Caecus Tenus Verum i
by RevanBodyguard
Summary: Those chosen by fate are subject to the many enigmas of which define it. Its latest victim is Prince Noctis, who is forced into a game predetermined on who is to win and what to lose. Can he, his allies, and a warrior of a goddess brace its challenges and push past the darkness that blinds them to witness the end result of this challenge forced by destiny? ONGOING
1. Prologue: Act I

**AN: **This website messed up the title, they left out the hyphen. It's called **Caecus Tenus Verum-i**, which is Latin for **Blind to the Truth** or dubbed **BttT** for short. This a FFXIII-2/FFvsXIII crossover involving the main characters that are involved in politics, war, and spiritual ideas of religion and in the midst of it, romance. It's a collaboration of equal effort between RevanBodyguard (me) and SolidChief, also known as A Soldier's Shadow on here (my boyfriend) and I hope that you enjoy this as much as we enjoyed writing it.

_By the grace of Etro, let thunder herald your arrival._

_- Odin's summoning  
_

**PROLOGUE**

"_Divine Etro, go peacefully to your rest. I will stand guard over your legacy... I am the epitaph for the consequences of my actions and the preserved memories of loved ones enduring in the passing of eons."_

_**This is a fantasy based on reality.**_

_"Years passed and carry on from the world I lived in since the day I chose to remain in Valhalla, and carry out the will of the goddess. Time's path is no longer certain. Etro... No, the goddess is dead, she was murdered in result of an hateful choice… I remain of what is left of her divine will and hand. How soon is it for when I will awaken from these dreams, these blurred visions? They have yet to cease even as I sleep. Her Knight stays diligent and devoted to Her valiant wisdom. I have neither doubts nor regrets of my choices, but I knew I failed Her as I've failed..._

_It is ironic being encrusted in indestructible crystal, it goes unstained by the chaos absorbed in this realm and the extinguished lives from the future I could not save._

_Chaos spilled out to the world, a bleak and lifeless future, Valhalla appeared within Pulse, unscathed by the currents of time and scourge. Pulse died then became something else… it went nothing more than a miracle. Caius Ballad is still alive and has won just as She have foreseen. The future has once again been shifted to his doing. The world isn't as it appears, it's predisposed to a surreal reality of a fantasy."_

_**A meeting predestined by the divine.**_

"_In my crystal statis, I can envisage the one that I await for and that time is soon. Odin has been restless and kneels down for the day I awaken, as for now I am at my most vulnerable. Lucis Caelum... Are you prepared for what you have been destined for? Would my endless prayer go unheard?_

_Translated as 'Sky of the Night Light'... He was chosen by Her before he was born just as I was, but his fate isn't to become a Knight. I do not understand his importance, but his choices of one would influence of the lives of many which bounds back to the goddess. If so… Why can't I see your destiny from Etro's sacred temple? _

_Who are you?"_

"…I was about to ask the same thing."

_**The figure that still lies asleep in the Fantasy.**_

"_For now, I sleep, my dreams everlasting. It is here that I await the end of eternity… and the day I awaken once again."_


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: Caecus Tenus Verum-i  or Blind to the Truth again. Please review! Your reviews are what fuels us to continue writing and finish this fic. FFXIII/FFXIII-2 and FFvsXIII doesn't belong to us but we are merely playing in the fandom's sandbox.**

_**Chapter 1**_

_An isolated nation protected by an ancient line of kings._

_A modern civilization alive with _

_the Crystal's songs of swords and sorcery_

Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum stared from the bottom of the stairs at an illuminating glow that pierced the dark sky and its clouds. Refraction following the light had a subtle luminosity to it that made the stars and city lights look inferior compared to it. The light would have captured the attention of many noblemen as well as noblewomen and cause a quiet fascination to the discovery and completely occupy the observatory level. That is, if they could see the light as he could. In a party within the only skyscraper where ground nearly touches the sky that only the wealthy could afford to mark their presence on its marble floors, there were other things that easily captured people's attention such as the food, drink, dance, typical gossip and topical discussions carried about, to the heavily ornate decorations as the chandeliers and majestic aquarium of exotic sea life.

As he made his way up the swirling stair case, his eyes were fixated on the back of a woman wearing an ivory cocktail dress that matched her ankle boots. Her gaze was secured on a painting of a sleeping woman encased in crystal on the floor level, but she appeared to be seeing through it as though it would give her the answers she needed. What's uncommon is that she was the only one in front of the painting contrast to other guests in their clichés engrossed in deep conversation.

As though as she heard his thoughts, she turned her head and smiled upon recognition of the only heir of the Caelum lineage of kings in Maiestas. Her long-layered golden-blonde hair seemed to flow like water and her bright purple eyes welcomed his presence warmly. Her face was beautiful yet unremarkable, lips thin but kind, and skin flawless. From her unremarkable face, her eyes watched him in their bright and steady gaze. The light within them twinkled, a cool and comfortable glow. When she smiled, her features seemed lit as from within. Noctis reached the realization that he was staring and by instinct averted his eyes and turned his back on her.

"Prince Noctis, you see the light too, right?"

He froze in place and turned to face this soft feminine voice to see it was the woman that met eye contact with him.

"Just like me." The blonde woman declared, never losing that smile or warmth in her eyes. "Forgive my intrusion but may I ask His Majesty if that was what you were looking at from the bottom of the stairs?"

"Pretty much," Noctis replied, turning around and walking away from any curious eavesdroppers, the woman following him. How did she know that he was looking he did not know. "When did you start seeing it?"

"When I was a child." Her response came simply as her steps hadn't matched his speed.

"A near-death experience, I presume?"

Yes, you too, Prince Noctis?" Her quickened steps rushed to reach up to him, interested.

"It was pretty bad…" A brief silence followed and Noctis was thankful when Stella changed the subject and not going into details on their near-death experiences. It was best not to discuss personal matters like this so freely.

"Remember the painting you found me standing in front of? An artist's masterpiece but it's the image we know best of Etro, always depicted as a slumbering youthful woman on a throne, but she sees more than we ever could with our eyes open – the past, present, and future – our deaths." At the last word, Noctis slowed his pace and Stella took it as a sign to lower her voice discreetly but he can sense her excitement as though reciting lessons verbatim as she continued. "Each tense are inevitable. She also hears prayers and grants wishes to those she deems worthy, I'm almost certain that she could overhear our conversation now. It is said that since the beginning of time, She was entrusted with guarding a sacred powerful Crystal that could bestow the holder with unimaginable power, a power that only that is least expected, but certainly not an useless one. That Crystal, I believe, is what the other kingdoms fought over to enhance their power in our world. There are speculations of its location though farfetched theories never gave results of the Crystal's location and with knowledge of that location takes you to Etro's shrine."

"I guess if we wished hard for a miracle, Etro will show the way to it and that's if She liked you in Her haven. Nobody can just waltz their way without running into Her guardians as she slept."

"A blunt way of saying, but yes… I believe you are correct, milord. A goddess would to have Her Knight, wouldn't She? A champion that would swear allegiance to protect and act upon Her wishes." The woman's features became scrutinized as she was predisposed to her train of thought staring at the light. Her naturally practiced smile emerged as she continued.

"It's said when the goddess Etro opens the gate to welcome the souls of the dead, a bright light shall shine down from the skies. Those few that can see the light are granted power from the Kingdom of the Dead. It's a gift awarded by Her or so they say in the Tenebraean legend."

"That's the same deal here, it seems," Noctis began, not intentionally seeping more distaste or mistrust in his tone than he intended. She doesn't appear affected by it, welcomed by open opinions and his honesty. "A ridiculous bedtime story." _Does that mean that we are dying if we could see this light of the dead? _

"Did you receive any power, Prince Noctis?" She inquired as Noctis sat down on an empty bench, his mind swimming by this woman's words and his own theories.

"I don't know about Etro's light or whatever and I don't wish to see it. I don't need anything like that. I'm fine as I am." Noctis shook his head of whatever thoughts he did have in the past and glanced up to the assertive, extroverted woman. "You shouldn't speak of the light to people. It's rather best not to talk about those things."

Crestfallen and puzzled expression on her face, "But why is it…?"

"Being different from others can lead to trouble. Don't you think?"

She gave him a knowing sad look before continuing. "I understand that no matter what kind of power it is, if it's at the cost of someone's life, I'd have nightmares…" She absorbed carefully over the prince's words, pacing over her next words. "There are people who can see it and those who can't. I've been thinking about it for a long time and I believe that there is some special meaning behind it."

"A special meaning to seeing it?"

"Yes. For example maybe there is some destiny I must fulfill." The noblewoman raised her head towards the light's direction causing him to follow suit. "But even if the legend was just a bedtime story… That light, what do you think it really is?"

"It's just something that's there. Isn't that good enough? Hmm…" He rose and paused, remembering that he had not asked for his acquaintance's name since their conversation began.

The young woman places a hand on her chest to address herself. "I'm Stella."

"Ah, Stella… I'll have to be leaving soon."

"I'm sorry for holding you up, Prince Noctis." She inclined her head, smiling at him.

Noctis returned the smile. "Just Noct is fine."

"I'll also be leaving," Stella took a couple steps back before, glancing back at the light once more. I feel that I also received something from the light tonight." She nodded as though agreeing with someone, "I was able to speak to you."

"You'll have nightmares." He jokingly warned, placing a hand at his hip.

Stella laughed, amused by the unexpected response. "You're a mean one, aren't you, Prince Noctis?"

"Noct," Noctis gently admonished again.

"I'll call you that the next time we meet. When you have the leisure, please come and visit Tenebrae sometime. I'll show you around."

"That sounds interesting… I'll give it some thought."

Stella smiled her goodbye and hurries away in long strides with Noctis watching her until she was away from his purview. He raised his head, hearing a voice. A woman's voice that isn't like any other and strained as though speaking across from a far distance from him. He immediately assumed that it came from the direction of the painting of the goddess.

"_Who are you?"_

"I was about to say the exact same thing to you."

When no reply was given, Noctis scoffed and turned away from the light's view. The sooner he leaves this party the better that he can't hear this voice again from the painting. "Goodbye, whoever you are."


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: Another chapter of Caecus Tenus Verum-i (Blind to the Truth). Most of the chapters are already written and waiting to be uploaded but I'd like to see if this fic is acceptable by readers first. I'd hate to have this fic ignored. D: When I get more reviews or any alerts, I'll upload a chapter at a time. Hope you enjoy! Final Fantasy doesn't belong to us, we are just playing in the sandbox and imaginations. I plan on uploading the trailer I made for this story on YouTube soon so keep an eye for it on either my page or when I put it in a chapter.  
**

**Chapter 2**

"_Ignorance is an enemy, even to its owner._

_Knowledge is a friend, even to its hater._

_Ignorance hates knowledge because it is too pure._

_Knowledge fears ignorance because it is too sure."_

_- Sri Chinmoy_

**Blind To The Truth**

King Roman Caelum sat back in his throne, his stern eyes going out to crowds of Nihilsomno.

He recognized many of them as noblemen and their wives within his court, men of high standing that reigned in his name across the entire nation of Caelum. Many of them he regarded highly for their statesmanship that kept the populace away from discontent or the armies they commanded along his borders to ensure the kingdom's sovereignty. However, despite the balance of that existed from the cooperation of nobles and himself, Roman still harbored a distrust within his ranks.

The King was not oblivious to the long history of his dominion and the past has shown that the nation has never lived in total peace. When formed thousands of years ago, there existed conflict among those seeking to unite the peoples living off the land and it was then that the Caelums rose above the rest and formed the dynasty of which his blood originated. Later down the line, civil war had erupted over the power of the crown which was quelled and brought the nobles to their present day roles as vassals to the king and enforced his will in their lands. Conflict still persisted onward to the reign of Roman's father in the form of several failed coups by power hungry nobles backed by the then rising empire of Nfeilheim but their involvement was almost invisible and did not warrant retaliation in the wake of the Caelums reasserting their rule once more. The very last thing Roman wanted was to become a foreign puppet due to another failed attempt at wrestling his power away from him.

Ignis Fatuus, one of his son's closest friends and a royal advisor, stood by the King's side. The young man had a brilliant, wise and deductive man that would be faster expected of a man many years his senior, it had served Roman well several times already in critical instances were a clear decision was not able to be made on his own.

"It seems more than just the nobles have managed to make their way to Nihilsomno..." Ignis commented out of the blue, his eyes following the King's in scanning the crowd.

"The peasantry must have gotten a hold of some impressive attire if that is the case." Roman replied dryly, not following on what the young advisor meant. All of the guests were dressed extravagantly and decorated in gems and jewelry worth far more than the local peasant could hope to afford at the end of their life time.

Ignis furrowed his brow and shook his head. "No, your majesty, look to your left, the girl..." The young advisor stated quietly, gesturing with his head which Roman followed to see a beautiful young woman, staring right back at the two as if she had been observing them all along. Her eyes were a deep shade of purple.

Roman raised a curious brow to the woman, his curiosity being fed further by her sudden approach towards him. "Go off and enjoy yourself, Ignis, perhaps you can join my son who is somewhere out there..." Ignis' expression contorted into one of confusion but he knew better than to question the King, only nodding in respect before walking off into the crowd. The woman stopped right in front of the throne just as Ignis had vanished from sight, Roman offered his hand to her. "May I have the pleasure of knowing your name, dear?"

The blonde smiled and accepted his outstretched hand. "My name is Stella Nox Fleuret, it is a pleasure to be in your presence, milord. Caelum is such a lovely place, Nihilsomno being a pristine pinnacle of its beauty." Stella stated, marveling at the Maiestas skyline outside the windows and at the nobles intermingling. She sounded as if she had never been in the capital before, let alone the entire country in the King's view.

"Magnificent, I agree, my family has long since worked to create a land where a paradise would be open to the living rather than exclusively to the living." Roman responded, his tone containing pride over his kingdom's exuding of overwhelming majesty. His attention diverted to the smiling maiden before him, putting much focus on her purple eyes. "You're not from her, you are..." Roman stopped mid sentence, his brow straightening and a suspicious expression overtaking his aged features. "You're a vassal of Nfeilheim, why are you here?"

Stella frowned. "I am here merely as a consort of the Kingdom of Tenebrae, my family is from a noble bloodline that is as ancient as your own, milord!" The maiden explained nervously. She dropped her head as a sign of respect and submission, hoping to appease and calm the Caelum sovereign. "I am here with no bad intentions in mind, only Tenebrae's good will, a visit defined only by peace!"

Roman huffed, leaning back in his chair as Stella stared on with soft eyes. "Tenebrae still stands? I could have sworn they were beneath Niflheim's boot..."

"My kingdom was at the brink of being conquered by Niflheim but their army bypassed us entirely to go on to absorb our neighbors. It was a miracle of the goddess, they were within miles of our capital's gates and they just left..." Stella recollected, regaining her posture, her voice adopting a more somber tone. The King noted that the maiden's entire form down to even the aura that resonated off of her was downright melancholy, almost as if she was fearful. Perhaps there was more to her story than Stella was letting on but Roman decided now may not be the best time to dissect, pity getting the best of him.

The King breathed out a long sigh. "If what you say is true, Lady Fleuret, all is well between us and our kingdoms. Nothing to worry yourself unnecessarily over." Roman consoled calmly, shutting his eyes and crossing his legs. Stella eased up noticeably at the King's words and shed a soft smile. He always had a weakness for the quiet, soft spoken women, they reminded him of _her..._

King Roman exhaled another sigh, glancing off into the crowd where his son was intermingled among.

* * *

"Prince Noctis!"

Noctis whirled away from the capital skyline to see his friend and father's advisor, Ignis making his way through the crowd of nobles to reach him. "Ignis? I thought you were with my father?" Noctis asked, trying to peek past the large crowds to his father's throne. He cursed under his breath at the amount of people in his way, never being one for social gatherings.

"Your father requested an audience with a... Out of place party guest." The advisor informed, removing his eyeglasses and pulling out a handkerchief from his breast pocket to wipe them of any fog. After a quick inspection, he put them back on, stepping closer to Noctis. "She was a-"

"A purple-eyed woman." Noctis answered preemptively, his head tilting to a downward angle. This Stella girl perplexed him like few others have before. She claimed to have similar visions of a light as he did, he didn't even tell her, let along know her before she popped the question. It bothered the prince, the entire conversation between their apparently shared visions of a light and the goddess Etro. Noctis wasn't a big believer in the divine, holding limited belief in a paradise where his deceased mother would reside by no more beyond that. Stella's words stuck in his head, they disturbed him with their cryptic feel. "I wonder what she wants, why she is talking to my father..."

"She's a noble from Tenebrae." Noctis turned to Ignis, who was casually filling a shot glass with wine. His friend downed contents of the glass in a single serving before immediately pouring himself another. "Only Tenebraen nobles have eyes of that shade, it shows how they stand above the rest of their people. Purple after-all is a color of regality..." Ignis elaborated in his usual informative manner before taking a sip from his glass, wiping his lower lip of any wine. "To my knowledge, Tenebrae had fallen to the Empire as a vassal, perhaps she escaped capture or did not seek to be their pawn."

"Or there's more behind the priestly facade that she puts up for us to see..." Noctis grumbled, feeling of distrust evident in his words.

"Prince Noctis, must you be so... discourteous?" The advisor inquired sternly. The prince gave Ignis a displeased expression over his choice of words but was passed off entirely in turn. "You hold a prejudiced opinion on her, due to her faith. That is hardly what's expected of your bloodline."

"Untrue!"

"Then why do you think she's lying? History has shown that dethroned nobles are put of put to death, forced into collaborating or they're exiled. Clearly her head is still attached to her shoulders and she is not chained to the Empire's throne or else she'd have been unable to be here."

"Not everything is always by the book, Ignis!"

"Common sense and intuition speak volumes on these matters, Prince Noctis."

Noctis growled at Ignis's petulant, as he deemed them to be, remarks. He was about to continue their argument when a loud crash and screams from the nobles broke out. Both prince and advisor whipped around to see a squad of armed men rappel through the hole and open fire over the guests' heads with automatic rifles.

"Prince Noctis, get down!" Ignis shouted, tackling the prince to the side behind a marble pillar at the corner of the room. He quickly shot a glance behind cover to determine the identity of the terrorists but they looked like no other armed soldier he had seen before. The men had elements of a usual army grunt with an armored chest plate but instead of any sort of helmet, they were clad in maroon cowls that made their faces hard to make out.

"Ignis..." Noctis whispered, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder, taking a spot next to him to watch the intruders. They were rounding up anyone that was nearby, forcing the nobles to their knees and making them bow their heads until the met the floor. Prideful anger burned in his chest at this display, how dare such thugs degrade the noble blood of Caelum? "Father isn't among them, go see if you can find him and protect him, Ignis."

The advisor cast a look of aghast at the proposal. "Do you honestly expect me to go through with that and leave you behind? Your father would have my head, Etro forbid the worst from happening to you!" He berated in a hushed snarl, Noctis paying him little heed as he got to his feet. At that point, déjà vu occurred and then it him on the prince's intentions. "You're going to do something brazen, aren't you?"

"No other way to keep them occupied than give them a distraction while you and dad escape and contact help." Noctis turned to Ignis, eying the katana he always had at his waist. "Let me borrow your—"

Ignis didn't allow Noctis to finish, simply removing the weapon from its hilt, light gleaming off the blade. Noctis reached out to accept the weapon only to flinch back when Ignis pointed it at his nose. For a moment, the prince almost suspected his long time friend was involved in this plot but the worst didn't become reality when he flipped the sword professionally, offering the hilt to the prince. "Don't let us share a funeral..." The advisor stated reluctantly before skulking away with a final nod of approval.

Noctis checked back on the terrorists, his eyes widening at the sight of one of them dragging someone from the crowd. Initially he thought they caught his father but a feminine voice begging to be let go of changed that, they had chosen Stella. They got her down to her knees much like the other nobles, his rifle pointed at the back of her head. The prince's mind began racing for an idea of attack before they could kill anyone. At the corner of his eye, he noticed the closest enemy to him had his back turned and seemed to be totally oblivious to his presence. This would be the time to take this great advantage.

As silently as he could, Noctis crept up behind the man, poised the katana and sharply thrust the blade clear through the man. Only a garbled, choked scream escaped his lips as he dropped to his knees, gaining his allies attention. Before they could react, Noctis bolted at them, sliding at one to send him off balance, swiping the blade across the man's side right before he hit the ground hard.

"Shoot him!" One of the men shouted, apparently being the leader going by the way the other men adhered to his command as a volley of bullets flew in Noctis' direction. The prince ran to the pillar but rather than going to cover, he seemed to defy gravity by running up the pillar and flipping off the surface.

Time seemed to slow as he fell over the terrorists, slashing out the katana and cutting their guns in half. The men were caught dumbfounded by the loss of their weapons, not readying themselves for Noctis elbowing one in the face and uppercutting the pommel of his sword into the other's jaw.

"Prince Noctis!"

Noctis turned to the distressed cry of his name, his eyes wide as they spotted the leader holding a handgun to Stella's temple. The prince dropped his katana and raised his hands up in surrender. "Let her go..."

The leader said nothing and instead did the opposite, stepping slowly away with a whimpering Stella in his vice grip, staring helplessly at Noctis, who feared any action may sign her death warrant. Just as the man was close the elevator out of Nihilsomno, it beeped and a hail of darts flew out of the doors into their target's back. The man's gun fell out of his hand and his grip on Stella loosened as he dropped the floor, paralyzed and unconscious.

Stella fell forward but Noctis managed to catch her by the arms, the girl gasping and grabbing his shirt. "Are you okay, Stella?" The prince asked, being answered only by the nod of the maiden's head. He looked over Stella's head to see Ignis standing in front of a squad of military servicemen, who spread out to check on the nobles while Ignis stepped forward towards Noctis and Stella.

"This isn't..." Noctis stammered, a slight shade of red invading his face over the silent woman in his arms, clinging to his chest.

"I wasn't asking." Ignis said nonchalantly, watching the soldiers lead the traumatized nobles away and gathered the wounded terrorists. Upon locating King Roman, the two made had come into contact with the 'Exercitus Ad Hoc Imperator' (Army for the King) or the King's own personal army that solely served the royal family and acted only in their defense or executed special operations ordered by His Majesty. It took little background information beyond the simple statement of their prince in danger for them to spring into action. "General Protestas sends his best regards."

"Where is my father? Is he well?" Noctis questioned as he helped Stella stand up on her own feet. Stella seemed to be intently focused on the wounded and dead men being carried away by the army, with what looked to be gloom overtaking her beautiful features. Noctis assumed she was in shock over the sudden violence and being held hostage at gunpoint. When she noticed his glance, all he received was a feint smile.

"Your father is at the palace, he is expecting the three of us to be present for a conference on this matter's breach of security in the next two hours." Ignis stated, turning on his heel back towards the elevator, crossing his arms behind his back. "Make haste, and don't forget my katana. I'm quite fond of it."

Noctis bent down and picked up Ignis' katana, skillfully placing it back in its sheath. As he made his way to the elevator to reach the palace quickly so not to worry his father on his well being, Noctis noticed Stella still surveying the scene, looking as if she had just lost a loved one. The image served to bring back memories of his own.

The scream...

The gunshots...

The long moments he'd spend at _her _tomb...

Noctis shook his heads to clear it of the thoughts. They have passed and he couldn't harp on them forever. He felt sympathy for Stella's shellshock but the feeling would pass in time, his did and now they generally occupied the back of his mind. Never forgetting them but rarely allowing them to cloud his judgment. She'd be better soon...

Everything passes with time.

* * *

"He killed him!"

"I kno-"

"He killed him and now we'll never get a chance to continue our plight!"

"He's with Etro now, calm yourself."

"Bah, Etro... What can she do for us? What has she ever done for us! We wouldn't be in the hole we are in now were she to have done something!"

"Your faith is weak now but the goddess will be our salvation, just be patient and she shall be our means of restoring Tenebrae. If you won't do it for her, do it for me."

"Fine... I must say, in spite of all that occurred, I'm surprised that you were able to act through it all."

"I've been preparing for this moment for a very long time, I won't allow it to slip away from us, I want us to see Her grand plan for our continent come to life and I can't be weak or we'll never see past what She's already shown us."

"Do you think they will retaliate in the visions that She has gifted you with?"

"Yes, yes... She has been right so far, they will do just as She says, like actors following a script."

"When they do, all will be well and we'll be free?"

"Yes, we will never have to fear Niflheim again, Etro will make sure of it."


	4. Chapter 3

******AN: Here's another chapter of Caecus Tenus Verum-i or Blind to the Truth for you! Thank you so much for the reviews so far, I wish that I could respond to the Anonymous reviews too so I can extend my gratitude to you as well. You guys rock, I hope that this is only the beginning for us to share this story. My boyfriend and I have been reading the reviews and the alerts we got. Woo! About the last chapter, I forgot about the page breaks and how they don't show up on here unless you "Insert Horizontal Line". ^^; That is really annoying to have to do that but I'm relieved that you read through it fine, it won't happen again as I put in the page breaks this time! :D Someday, we may have to put in "Did you know...?"or an BttT Omake where we include hilarious facts or situations for the characters. I secretly ship everyone with anyone, except for Stella as I don't find anyone she could click with. Maybe with Lightning. Hope you enjoy! Ask any questions if you have any!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_In the ancient annals of Gran Pulse, Etro appears as the goddess of death and chaos. She is said to reside in the world where the souls of the dead find their rest—Valhalla._

_- Fal'Cie Mythology_

Castle Caelum.

The structure served as a symbol of power belonging to the Caelum family, a timeless monument that stood high even among Maiestas's numerous skyscrapers that jutted up to thousands of feet into the air. Within the capital, Castle Caelum was a mark that impossible for anyone, traveler or local, to miss without stopping to marvel at its presence.

The inside of the castle was littered with pieces of the kingdom's history going all the way back to its founding centuries ago. Portraits of monarchs, their families and gallant paintings of quintessential events from the past that portrayed them in a glorified manner. The halls of the castle were filled with various antiques as well and there even existed enshrine room dedicated to the goddess Etro.

Roman Caelum was present in the throne room alongside his son, Prince Noctis, and his adviser Ignis Fatuus. Having just escaped the possibility of held for ransom by terrorists who had attacked Nihilsomno, the trio had retreated to the safety of Castle Caelum under the protection of the Exercitus Ad Hoc Imperator. Caelum had been the victim of terrorism before but never had it reached Maiestas let alone one of its most prominent structures.

Roman paced the conference room, away from his throne that stood at the head of a large table at the center where Noctis and Ignis sat on opposite sides of the King's vacant seat. The throne room was yet another of Castle Caelum's more lavish rooms as it was so large and well furnished that four Maiestas families could likely all fit inside it and still have room for their own furnishings. Two fountains bisected the room at opposite side, clear and pure water flowing from them incessantly. On the roof was a painting of the goddess that seemingly peered down on the occupants through its masterfully painted eyes.

"I knew she wasn't all she claimed to be, I knew she was holding something back from me at Nihilsomno..."

"My Lord, with all due respect, we have no definitive proof that Lady Fleuret was at all involved in tonight's attack." Ignis said to the pacing and paranoid King that paced incessantly back and forth. "While her appearance within Nihilsomno was most suspicious, we cannot sentence her to trial with invisible proof." Ignis always attempted to be fair on matters of state right down to the King's security as he always kept Caelum's identity as a sophisticated and just society across the world true.

The King immediately rounded on his adviser, anger dominating his aged face. "Is that so, Ignis? I had a debriefing with General Protestas after you had gone to retrieve my son and you know what?" Roman questioned, stopping his pacing and his tone dropping to a growl before exploding in a shout. "He confirmed Stella Nox Fleuret blatantly lied to us, to me! Tenebrae is an actuality just another puppet kingdom to the Empire, it has been so for several whole months now. The wounded we took alive, their weapons were of Niflheim origin, and they even had their military's identification codes! Are those enough proof for you?"

The adviser broke his gaze away from his King's in defeat, dropping his head. "Yes, sire..."

Just before Roman could go on with his rants, the doors to the throne room opened to reveal Stella standing in the doorway. "King Caelum, I arrived as your adviser informed that you requested my presence." All three heads in the room directed their attention on the maiden, not a single word spoken by any of them. "Is there something wrong?" Stella asked, completely oblivious to her status as their prior topic.

"You treacherous deceiver..."

"I don't... Understand..." Stella took a step back as she saw the King approach her ominously only to bump into a pair of armored sentries that seemed to appear from out of thin air. Roman stepped forward, brandishing a sword from the sheath beneath his robe, pointing the end at the maiden's throat, an expression of rage on his face. "What is the meaning of this?"

"How dare you lie to me? How dare you so blatantly nitpick your words to deceive me into not sending you to rot for your act of espionage against my people?" The King snarled, his grip on his sword unflinching as it stood mere from slicing open Stella's throat. Whereas her fear displayed at Nihilsomno managed to appeal to a softer side, it only served to make his blood boil. "Tenebraen... You're but another one of the snakes involved in the Empire's expansionist ambitions that which threaten my divine right and our kingdom's sovereignty! Your kingdom exists in shambles as opposed to mine; you have no right to even die by my blade as your native land died to Niflheim 's..."

Stella glanced up at Roman with a look of steely determination replacing her fearful one due to the King's mocking words against her kingdom. "Tenebrae was a proud nation that resisted until its last son was put down by Niflheim 's guns and its father dragged away to his certain demise by their blade!" Stella almost shouted in defense for her homeland, gaining no response from Roman beyond a spiteful that glare that made her spirit burn. The maiden's eyes diverted themselves from the sovereign to his son and adviser. "I came to Caelum due to her reputation... As a land where the free were free and the rulers just... Clearly your titles preceded you and they were most dubious..."

Noctis stared back in Stella's direction from his seat beside Ignis. Her devotion to her country and people were around his own sense of inner nationalism. Becoming momentarily apathetic, Noctis placed himself in the maiden's position and knew that were he in the same position, at sword point or not, the prince would defend his home and people with great fervor until his death. Noctis had his doubts on Stella's guilt; he clearly recognized that his father was never one to let an offense against his nation go unpunished but his facts did not add up considering Stella was held at gunpoint right before him. If Stella were a traitor, why would her "allies" turn their sights on her?

Roman gritted his teeth, deepening her scowl at Stella's defiant words. "That defiant breath will be your last, traitorous Tenebraen!" Noctis' widened as he watched his father raise his blade, Stella somberly dropping her head to her fate. Noctis would not let this unjust execution occur and let Stella die. It was his turn to persevere.

"Prince Noctis?" Ignis turned at the sound of the prince standing out of his seat. In a blink, he vanished and Ignis' heart jump over a beat, realizing Noctis' intentions to do when he spotted him reappear beside his father. Every royal was gifted with a unique ability based around the bloodline they descended from. Noctis possessed an uncanny skill in combat with many weapons that gave one the impression that he was born to do battle, as well as the ability to teleport. Roman Caelum on the other hand was a man of unimaginable strength, hitting with what felt like the force of fifty men. Just as Roman brought his sword down, it did not meet Stella's flesh but the blade of his son's sword, shocking him.

"Noctis, what... What is the meaning of this?" The King growled, easing the force behind his force so not to hurt his son but not uncrossing his blade.

"Dad, you can't kill her...! She's innocent!" Noctis kept his sword up and deepened his blocking stance. While skilled, he was not as strong as his father, not even close to as strong despite his father holding back much of his strength. Noctis shifted his weight into his legs and forced all his strength forward, pushing Roman's blade away from him and Stella in a might effort, the King letting his weapon hang beside him as Noctis gave Stella quick glance to which she smiled gratefully in turn. "Stella is innocent."

"Why do you say that? Have her hollow charms taken a hold of you as well, my son?" Roman thought back to Nihilsomno when he had first regarded Stella with suspicion and she escaped punishment there only due to the weakness her looks inspired. He mentally grimaced at the possibility that she had done the same to his son.

"Just like you, I was there when the terrorists attacked a few hours ago and so was she..." Noctis began, taking a step beside Stella. He knew his father was likely to view his stance in defense of the Tenebraen with distaste, he had it written into his entire composure but Noctis was doing this for the reputation of his nation by upholding the values in which his land was established around. "At the party, one of the terrorists was a few seconds away from putting a bullet through her skull and out the other end if Ignis did not arrive in time to rescue her."

Roman glanced to Ignis for clarification on the prince's statement to which he received a nod. "It is true, sire, I saw those urchins hold Lady Fleuret at gunpoint until my men interceded."

"Were she against us, she wouldn't have stuck around when gunfire broke out nor would she have remained her in Maiestas but she is... Their reason for coming after her was because she's a noble, it'd make sense that they'd try to kill her; royals of the conquered end up imprisoned or dead." The prince further elaborated, echoing Ignis' words that he had told him at the party when he doubted Stella. "It's the oldest way of stopping a rally around them as a symbol of rebellion; they wanted her dead because she was a runaway."

At the end of Noctis' argument, all eyes went to Roman Caelum. The air was tense as the King stood entirely still, not saying a single word, his men awaiting his orders and the defendant awaiting a final verdict, making Noctis' defense futile or fruitful all his hinged on his word. After felt an hour while in reality was only several minutes, The King raised his hand signaling for his men to stand down, earning Noctis and Stella a breath of relief. Once the soldiers retreated back to their posts, he relaxed his shoulders with a sigh. "Commendable defense, my son..." Roman commended. He looked to Stella, his eyes hard but with a nonchalant expression on. "You're pardoned for now, Miss Fleuret... Do not give me any reason to regret this." Stella simply nodded as she watched Roman saunter over to his throne, sitting down and rubbing his temples. "While Stella is as of now innocent, our security is still at risk... Maiestas has been breached by Niflheim assassins. Tonight it was assassins, tomorrow their entire war machine lingering outside our capital, their guns pointed aimed towards our hearts."

"I will alert the generals to this breach in order to organize a defense of our nation against any surprise attack by Niflheim." Ignis volunteered, stepping up from his seat and kneeling down in front of the throne. "Whatever they may bring, we'll make them bleed out every step of the way."

Roman lifted his head to his adviser, his stress over the situation easily noticeable. "You seem to be suggesting a prolonged defeat, Ignis..." The adviser frowned, his words betraying what he had in mind but he knew himself that Caelum's resources and manpower paled in comparison to those of the Empire. "We are left with limited options beyond resist, die and hope to have chance to run."

"If I may have a word, I have a potential solution..." Stella spoke up, stepping past Noctis to be in front of the throne. Ignis and Noctis exchanged skeptical glances before looking to Roman. The King was desperate to gain any ground to hold back Niflheim so he relented, extending his hand to signal the maiden to go on. " Niflheim is a society that stands loyal to Etro, the same goddess your nation worships..."

Stella looked off to the large painting of Etro on the ceiling of the throne room. The goddess had her arms extended out to her sides, a trio of skeletons floating above a pit of fire on her right hand and a half floating above her left. The skeletons signified the dead that she took with her to the underworld while the halo signified those that she allowed to ascend into the light where other virtuous souls went onto in death. Both Niflheim and Caelum venerated Etro for different reasons; Niflheim for their militarist society that valued warriors, past and present, above anyone else while Caelum did so due to their claim to being a kingdom of the virtuous that served as "Paradise on Earth".

"Were you to secure any sort of alignment with Her, something physical that shows you are the ones in Her favor? They will fear divine wrath upon them, they will faster toss off their sovereigns and bow down to you than fight against their goddess."

"Hold on for a moment." Noctis blurt out, drawing the room's attention to him. The prince was a known opponent towards Caelum being sub servant to an invisible entity that never showed any sort of evidence towards their existence beyond what he deemed 'fairy tales'. "What do you propose we do; claim to hold a magic artifact or a person of exceptional faith over the Empire and hope they lay down their arms?"

"Prince Noctis!" Roman scolded, snapping up right into his seat, sending a scowl in his son's direction. "Keep your disbelief to yourself and allow Lady Fleuret to continue..."

Noctis shut his mouth, a look of frustration forming on his face. With a final huff, the prince walked off to sit beside Ignis back at the table before the throne. Stella, making sure Noctis was quiet, cleared her throat before continuing. "At the city of Ubs Caelestis on the southern border between Caelum and the Empire, there exists a temple that is locked off to outsiders where the goddess herself is said to sleep within Her mortal form..." Stella elaborated, noting the shocked looks Ignis and Roman wore and the bitter skeptical one of Noctis. Of the three, she chose to address Noctis's doubts. "The legend is that no one has entered due to the lore that only those that have seen Her light can gain the goddess's attention so she may let them enter." The maiden glanced to Noctis from the corner of her eye, recalling his words at Nihilsomno regarding the ability to see the light. "An expedition to the temple to gain access, find the goddess and secure Her alliance would no doubt ward away Niflheim from seeking to expand into your kingdom."

"So it's settled." Roman declared, standing up to overlook the room, a new sense of a hope restored from the maiden's words. In his mind, it was most appropriate that the goddess would side with his nation, his namesake Caelum practically announced that the heavens favored his dynasty above that of even the Empire's, but first he'd have to gain Her alignment. "We will send an entourage to this temple to secure this alignment to Etro. Noctis, you will lead this expedition by my decree." The King looked towards his son, whose face turned into one of total disapproval of the move but this was met with a stern look from Roman. "It will be done come the morning..."

"Did you miss the part where she said "legend", "light", and "locked off"?" Noctis protested, crossing his arms. How could his father be so blind to his faith that he'd waste such time with this gamble? Blind faith was among the reasons why Noctis detested faith, he had little because it was only a nice concept to him of having an all powerful being watching over you and taking you to a paradise where all was well for everyone but it was illogical in it's entirety to him.

"I already gave my orders on this matter, you cannot protest it nor resist my command. If you are to become king one day, it's best you start by looking past your stubborn beliefs and embracing your faith as Etro was the one that gave our family power and the right to rule, boy..." Roman stated, staring deep into his son's eyes, unwavering as Noctis's lips curved into a pugnacious frown. "You are dismissed..."

The prince huffed quietly, walking out of the throne room away from his father only to be joined by Ignis as he exited the room. "I can tell you're upset, Prince Noctis, practically the whole royal court knows of your distaste for state sponsored faith." Noctis just quickened his pace, the advisor working to keep on his heels, thinking of words that would sour his disposition to his assigned task, however bleak his chances of doing so were. "As King, you will have to make decisions to appease the people of your nation, they are drawn to the faith behind the goddess. That way you will always have their support when your day of ascension comes."

"Fools set the rules in this world. Just take a look around. It's undeniable." Noctis mumbled bitterly. He was fully aware of what was required to be King, he had been training for the moment the day he learned to speak and think on his own and in spite of any desire of his to toss off the age hold faith that deluded his people from his perspective, he knew he'd be forced to conform to avoid conflict with his beloved people and nation. The idea would never sink in with the prince.

"Yo, Noct! Why didn't you tell us that you two were back?"

"Maybe because you'll badger him if any women at the party asked about you."

Noctis recognized those distinct voices and footsteps immediately, there was no doubt that it was his friends, Prompto, who rushed to meet up to him alongside Gladiolus Protestas at his heels but taking his time strolling in the corridors of the hall.

Gladiolus has been a childhood friend of Ignis and himself while Prompto became acquainted with the three later on in their teens under a contrasting circumstance. Gladiolus was the eldest of the four as well as the tallest and most built physically, he sported a clean beard around the jaw and the style of his dark hair straightened in the back since his youth. Prompto, roughly around Noctis' age, has a more slender build and blonde hair.

"Sorry, family meeting as soon as we got home," Noctis wearily apologized as he unbuttoned the cuffs around his neck and wrists and sighed deeply, absentminded. "You know how it is."

Prompto stared bewildered to Noct's behavior, eyes darting to him and Ignis standing oddly still and silent. "Did something happen?"

Ignis answered, irritated by the blonde's exasperating way of retaining ignorance. "Uncouth ruffians happened. They attacked the nobles, laid waste to the floor and spoiled my drink. Your prince dispatched them handily with my blade, not batting a lash."

Gladiolus casually leaned against the wall, folding his arms. "I don't think that's what Prompto meant, Ignis. We got that much from our lovely view here and the looks on your faces. We want to know what happened in that room." He gestured with the movement of his neck towards the room the two entered out of.

"I am to acquire an artifact of any sort from the sealed off temple far away from here. It's rumored to house Etro and her graces and inside is something we need to use to strike 'divine wrath' on those terrorists we suspect that are allied with the Empire." Noctis stated, summarizing the result of the conference, bitterly thinking of his father's decision to send him to lead the expedition.

"Go on," Gladiolus waved a hand to urge the prince to continue. "I'm sensing the good part of where this is heading."

"I'll need your help on this," Noctis stated without sounding as cryptic as those members in the conference. Only he would confront his friends with a request like this as they gained his trust as his confidants. It makes him appear pompous to others that don't know him well enough, but he was humble and his friends knew better than to see him as the average noble or general would. "Going around with the entire procession seems cumbersome. I don't want to spend too long doing this."

"And you decide the four of us are going on a road trip with you to find and gain a magic…thing… from Etro?" Prompto inquired, trying to find the proper word to describe some godly artifact and for what purpose. His friend has never shown wide interest in religion. "When did you become a believer?"

"Leave Noct alone, Promp," Gladious growled before grinning to tease about it. "You sound like you don't want to go and you were complaining how bored you were while he was at the party."

"Let me settle this in four words: Your Prince Has Spoken." Ignis intervened, the each word said punctuated greater than the last. "Now enough bickering, we don't want to babysit on this mission!"

"Guess there's a way out of it…" Prompto resigned, raising his arms behind his head.

"All right, all right. Meet you in ten. Should give you guys time to equip and make yourselves decent." Gladiolus stood and headed the opposite way towards the armory, hands shoved in his pockets. Especially you, Mr. Leather Boots." This is what Noctis liked about him, his humor still makes Ignis flush and sometimes Ignis does deserve it.

At least this trip would be made more bearable this way.

* * *

Sometime later and Prompto calling 'shot gun' on nabbing the left passenger seat next to its designated driver, much to Ignis' dismay while Noctis and Gladiolus sat in the back, the group of four began their mission. As much as Ignis would hate to admit it aloud, Prompto was better at navigation out of them since he has been more familiar with certain areas.

The group had dressed lightly and for the ease of movement, but were careful not to look like suspicious thieves or rather their enemies. Their formal wear would only prove to be a hindrance and discomfort. This is far from a diplomatic mission but a mission to retrieve an artifact that would bolster the Caelum family's power. Since they may not have the right to 'borrow' the object, the residents would retaliate.

Their minimal arsenal of weapons consisting of blades laid hidden in the trunk while Prompto's weapons of choice, the firearms were held underneath the carriage of the car as those are forbidden in the Caelum kingdom and he has received exceptions to carry those.

"So yeah, and we should plan for bathroom breaks and stop by shops to get food."

"Being that we're in the middle of the forest as far as the eye can see, you can go relieve yourself there and find your food out there. I'll be sure to leave the engine running for you, Prompto."

"You'd leave the engine running for Noct, wouldn't you? But forget I said that, I was only speaking for _you_, you're the royal advisor of His Majesty. It would be awful if we left you behind because you had to take a leak. Nobody cares about the foreign fugitive, oh no."

"Those two would be running their mouths the entire trip." Gladiolus whispered to Noctis, half of his attention kept on his other two friends. While both he and Noctis both hoped the two would eventually stop bickering, the general's son had the guilty pleasure of enjoying their arguments.

"As that's Earth shaking news…" Noctis mumbled inattentively, rolling his eyes as he leaned his chin onto his fist.

"So best to catch plenty of shut eye as you can, I know I will."

Prompto, finding it fruitless to argue when Ignis is like this, which is always as Ignis is as he always is and _will_ be, hovered his hand over the radio to switch a station on. Seeing it wasn't exactly the one he desired kept pressing at random at the screen, most are what the royal advisor enjoys listening to and what gives the blonde a migraine. Grinning profusely when he found his favorite, he turned the knob to increase the volume and began head banging to the beat. This caused Ignis to cringe noticeably when he was beginning to appreciate the golden silence in not having to listen to the passenger sitting to his left and stopped the gullible Prompto when his hand flew to shut the radio off. The ex-fugitive gave his four-eyes friend a defiant glance before turning it on and a response of Ignis turning it off and back and forth until he lost his temper.

Prompto was caught off guard when Ignis pulled his katana, the blade aimed ever so slightly at the ex-fugitive's throat and glinting dangerously by the city's lights, the owner's eyes still focused on the road and his tone taking a menacing snarl. "Touch anything – ANYTHING – and you'll lose the hand you touch yourself with. Are we clear?" The convertible had veered a bit when he whipped the blade out but he regained control of the car with one hand on the steering wheel and the other primed on the man. The others seem unaffected by the slight swerving maneuver and jerking motion.

"Crystal." The ex-fugitive pouted quietly and crossed his arms in surrender. He only wanted to listen to some music as nobody else was going to talk or lighten the mood from the stifling gloom created; he hated long road trips for as long as he can remember. Under his frustrated breath, "I hope you lose your car…" He immediately regretted those words as he had forgotten that Ignis has super human hearing.

It caused the driver to come to screeching halt and the passengers inside to jerk their heads forward. Ignis' hands were so clenched around the steering wheel that his knuckles were bone white and his gray eyes glared off into the distance. "Get. Out."

Not knowing how to respond and save himself from being abandoned, Prompto looks in the back seats for help but found none. Noctis was unresponsive and unmoving and the darkness made it hard to see if he were awake or not but the blonde knew otherwise that he was aware and did not care. Gladiolus smirked and leaned back in his seat, savoring every moment of his youngest friend being chastised though knowing that Ignis would never throw Prompto out, not when he and Noctis are around, anyway. Prompto frowned then offers a meager smile to his agitated friend. "I'll be quiet." At that, the car started back on its continued course uninterrupted.

"Hmph. Good luck…" The prince just shut his eyes, his mind blocking out Ignis and Prompto and heading to the objective ahead.

* * *

_City of the Celestials: Ubs Caelestis._

Ubs Caelestis was existed since the birth of Caelum as a kingdom and legend stated that it was the original capital where the goddess supposedly gave the original royal family their divine right to rule the land. Noctis and his friends had never traveled to the region before in all their years in Caelum, largely because it was so isolated from the rest of the kingdom and located dangerously close to the border with the Empire and Roman would never risk his son being captured by Niflheim rogues or spies.

The city's roads were well paved and the Caelum gang's car drove through the streets with little to no traffic impeding their path. Many of the buildings had religious influence behind their architecture, many of their larger structure having onion domes on their roofs and quaint-looking churches flooded the corners of seemingly every street they drove along.

"Any idea on where we can find Etro's house, guys? She can live in any one of them by the looks of it." Prompto commented, watching the numerous structures pass him by as the Aston Martin rode down a narrow road into a plaza. Men of faith crowded the center of the square in prayer before a large shrine of Etro. "How about we go ask one of these tall, quiet and mysterious guys for help?"

Ignis relented without a word, choosing to quietly acknowledge Prompto's idea as a good one. He pulled the car over along a sidewalk and cracked his door open, turning quickly to the vehicle's occupants. "I'll go out and request information, do not even think of leaving or you won't be coming back home with us." Ignis concluded, eying Prompto from the corner of his eyes, the ex-fugitive rolling his eyes at this as he leaned back in his seat. The advisor shut his door and made his way over to a group of men that had just finished paying their respects to the goddess's shrine, focusing on an older male in the center. "Excuse me, sir, might you be able to direct us to a temple that is reportedly closed off to outsiders of your city? We're..." Ignis stammered for a moment, remembering not to reveal their true identities as men sent by the royal family to Ubs Caelestis. He mentally kicked himself for not planning out a cover on the road to the city, he rarely made such mistakes.

The man's gaze hardened, evidently not liking what Ignis had to say or his status as an outsider. "To answer your question, no one who comes from outside our land may enter any temple in Ubs Caelestis. None of you hold the same purity of faith that we do and never will between your wars in the name of the goddess."

"Sir, we are not of the Empire, we are merely trying to—"

"We want to know the location of your temple, it is paramount that you reveal it to us, now." Noctis called out from the car, opening the door and stepping beside Ignis, who quickly morphed his expression to match his prince's. "You will tell us the location."

The elderly man's eyes widened slightly at this forceful approach, sharing glances with his fellow worshippers as if to come up with something to counter with. Noctis momentarily feared that they may call in security forces and they'd be forced to fight but was shocked when they got to their knees before him. "You... The one who has seen the light... The goddess revealed a vision to us that you would be arriving to our city, we did not expect it to be so soon!" Ignis raised a brow at Noctis over the man's words but the prince chose to ignore him, feeling best that it'd be more appropriate to explain later. The man got to his feet and glanced out to a large temple that loomed off on an elevated platform in the distance. "There, there is where the goddess lies in wait. Go with peace and Her grace, chosen one."

Noctis just turned on his heel and walked back to the Aston Martin where Gladiolus and Prompto were still waiting. "Thank you for your cooperation, gentlemen." Ignis quickly thanked before sprinting after Noctis, characteristically disapproving of the prince's moments of rudeness.

"Wow, Noct, I can never get over how you get people groveling at your feet no matter where you go." Prompto complimented, leaning back on his seat as the prince quietly got back into the car next to Gladiolus. "I mean, they aren't even supposed to-ah, what the hell!" The ex-fugitive glowered at Gladiolus, his large boot having just kicked his seat.

"Broadcast it a bit louder, why dontcha? It's not like we're supposed to have our identities kept hidden or anything!" Gladiolus berated in a hushed growl through grit teeth.

"Take his advice, you'd best listen to it or else I'd have to teach you the meaning of proper comprehension and you wouldn't want that." Ignis threatened, casually entering the driver's seat, twisting the key to start the engine up. Prompto just sighed and laid back in his seat, mumbling to himself how everyone always wore "their undergarments so tight".

After a short drive through Ubs Caelestis, their car came to a stop right at the base of a large flight of stairs leading up to the locked off temple of Etro. To Noctis, the structure faintly reminded him of Maiestas's primary temple of worship that his parents would force him to attend ceremonies at in his youth, a tradition Roman kept up with long after his late wife's passing. The prince cringed inwardly at the memories, never enjoying the classes and visits he took part in during his youth. Thankfully, he thought, the temple was supposed to be abandoned and he'd be free of priests at his heels trying to converse about his faith, something he never enjoyed nor felt comfortable speaking of as a child.

"Anyone wanna race to the top?" Prompto exclaimed jokingly, stepping out of the Aston Martin, focusing on the seemingly never ending flight of stairs. Nobody bothered responding to the ex- fugitive except with Gladiolus tossing him one of his firearms from beneath the car. "Uhh... Didn't they say this temple was abandoned, guys? I doubt we'll really need this stuff unless you think ghosts are in there to surprise us."

Noctis shut the trunk of the car, grasping his personal sword Somnus and placed it by his side. "Can never be too careful, Prompto." The prince waited for his companions to gather their remaining weapons before starting up the stairs with them in tow.

The stairs were made of concrete, the sounds of solid fragments crunching beneath their boots as the expedition made their way up towards the temple. Dusk was setting in, the sky turning from blue to an orange color from the sun setting off in the distance, giving the temple a more imposing air to it as it loomed overhead with a tall shadow cast over the four. As they closed in on the top, the temple just grew larger and larger, having looked simple and unintimidating from afar but once they reached the top of the stairs, it looked as if it was touching the sky above them.

"Can we...take a short...break, please?" Prompto panted, leaning on his knees for support as he tried to catch his breath. His friends seemed to be completely fine despite the seemingly thousands of stairs they just trekked up; Ignis and Noctis being constant trainers in combat gave them much stamina whereas Gladiolus was the son of Caelum's best general and had been given a soldier's upcoming since he was a boy.

"You can always stay outside and stand guard, that'll let you rest and be most useful." Ignis quipped, walking past the panting fugitive, who just raised his head to growl in annoyance at his constant jabs at him. The advisor stepped beside Noctis, who watched Gladiolus tried opening the front doors to the temple, the massive man's huge strength not even causing them to budge. "Any luck?"

"Damn!" The soldier's son backed up from the doors, rubbing his shoulder that he had previously been using to try to push the doors open. "How the hell are we supposed to get in there, Noctis?" He questioned, the prince just eying the door intently as if he was searching for an opening, crack, anything that would allow them entry inside. Gladiolus leaned his neck to the side to Ignis. "Is he all right or does he always think this hard?"

Ignis shook his head. "The prince seems different, don't you thi—wait, he has something." The advisor and Gladiolus, shortly joined by Prompto's eyes locked on Noctis as his hair turned a shade of silver as he stepped forward to the door. Ever since they knew him, they all noticed that at times their prince's eyes and hair would shift into different colors when he was in states of emotion or thought that served as the catalyst to the color change. Red when angry, blue when normal, green when content, and several other shades before but never had they witnessed it turn silver. "Prince Noctis..." Ignis leaned forward but stopped when he saw the prince step over to the temple door, laying his hand softly on the surface and leaned his head in.

"Permissum mihi in ego teneo vos es in illic." (Let me in, I know you are in there.) Noctis whispered softly to the door before stepping back.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them started to shake as the enormous temple doors slowly opened to the four, sliding to the sides to reveal the innards of the temple. Ignis, Gladiolus and Prompto struggled to keep their footing while Noctis managed to stay completely still. When it stopped and the doors lay wide open for their access, Noctis' hair returned to its normal shade of midnight blue. "Come on, I told you all that I didn't want to spend much time here..." His friends all shared confused looks as to what their prince had done to open the doors but no one, not even Prompto, said anything as they followed him inside.

As the last one entered, the same mysterious force that answered Noctis' plea for entrance, the same one that whispered below the others' hearing so only the prince would hear, closed the doors shut.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_A lone kingdom fighting to forestall_

_the outer world from imposing its heretic order_

_The struggle for the final Crystal is _

_merely a prologue to the chronicles of a new era_

_Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump. Th-thump._

This foreign sound echoed soothingly and despite the sources came from a faraway distance, never felt nearer. It took only mere long moments for recognition. The sound of human hearts beating dramatically in a cadence in synchronized rhythms on their own tells that more than one individual has managed to wander within the sacred temple. It has never occurred in over a century, and this haven has been sealed off to outsiders so they couldn't be treasure hunters or pilgrims roaming in the interior. Never before had the sleeping figure's senses have been more attuned to the surroundings of this place. If only it was possible to see and become mobile instead of frozen in place but these senses gave insight than possible normally, it felt indescribably incredible.

It was very much like being awake to the present than being deep in slumber of the consciousness.

Every fiber in Noctis' being told him to back away and retreat but that option is impossible as the temple's door closed behind them. The entrance that gave him and his friends admittance sealed as quickly as it opened before any second thoughts could come to mind. The barrier appeared in a bright flash before retaining its crystal form. A stilled silence passed among the men until Gladiolus noted the obvious running through their minds.

"Someone intends on keeping us here…" The older man warily glanced over his shoulders, his eyes scanning the vast unoccupied ceilings and floors. It appears that there hasn't been a living soul for some time here.

Ignis took out a cellar phone, squinting behind his glasses at the screen. His serious stare deepened as he raised the device and thumbed through the buttons before shoving it in his pocket. "No signal. Not surprising."

Prompto threw up his arms in a huff, exasperated at the occurrence that appeared in movies at least once when the unsuspecting main characters wander into forbidden tombs and found themselves trapped. "Great! How do we leave now?" He saw that it would be useless to scream for help or attempt shooting seeing how Gladiolus tried prying the door open and how well that went.

"We come for what we came after and figure out the rest afterwards." Noctis reminded apathetically as he walked past his friends. Speaking more to himself than to the others. "No turning back now." Without turning to face them and an authoritative overtone taking place."Let's split up and cover as much ground in this place."

That command met another moment of silence and nobody dared to move. Ignis, Prompto and Gladiolus were all but reluctant to disband temporarily and maroon Noctis alone. Gladiolus nodding, barked clearly the order. "All right, you heard your prince. Disperse! Rendezvous at this spot if we find anything interesting or nothing at all." The three nodded at this and left in separate directions to survey the holy place.

The internal architecture was much more refined and yet, in a dilapidated state compared to its carefully maintained structure outside. This sanctuary appeared to be untouched by time except for the given debris scattered and dust gathered on sculptures over the years. Overall, this pristine building fabricated out of crystal gave soft cerulean hue lighting. Etro must have inhabited in this very location for who knows how long and to the prince's knowledge, this is the first time in a while that a living being has set foot since the clergy stated that only the 'chosen ones' were permitted entry.

Noctis admits that he wasn't convinced fully on how he wasn't aware of what he did to gain entrance to the temple. It was though for a moment he became oblivious to the world around him and said the first things that came out of his mouth. Given his upbringing in royalty, he had studied Akavari in both writing and spoken tongue but never had he was able to spoke it so fluently and at ease like he did earlier.

There were sculptures of many shapes and sizes, at the entry, there were towering hooded feminine figures with stained marks directly under the carved eyes that he suspects may be tears of blood. One particular sculpture, instead stone and marble, was made out of crystal. It was located to what is assumed to be the throne room of the goddess the prince deduced.

The crystal appeared to contain a naked yet angelic woman sitting upon a pristine limestone throne raised at an elevated height by crystal seracs from the ground below. Too skillfully crafted amongst the other pieces, Noctis suspected that possibly the goddess had imprisoned the woman to her fate and felt a surge of sympathy came forth. The woman emanated a luminous golden glow from within and from her position had a blade of some sort rested upon crossed slender legs, her head turned delicately to her right shoulder and wore a somber countenance. Etro must have a morbid sense of humor if this is what she does to prisoners and her chosen ones.

_I'd like to know less rulers and leaders that don't keep people as trophies…_

Against his better judgment, Noctis approached the throne and the crystallized form, finding himself drawn to them than turn back the way he came. There was something about this area that he had to examine closer before consulting his friends about their next action. It compelled him to reach out a gloved hand towards the sleeping figure before him. Maybe he thought it was a good idea at the time, it did on the way in.

_I've never believed in you but I heard that you can hear prayers. Will mine reach you? Reveal yourself, divine goddess Etro. I call upon you to show me the way._

The glow emitted from the crystal figure gave off a harsh blinding light that caused Noctis to shield his eyes with his arm. Once that light disappeared, the crystal broke off simultaneously into shards that faded into pixilated particles drifting away. The woman slowly opened her eyes for the first time and her sight locked on the prince, absorbing his appearance and the light that came only from Etro's chosen.

Noctis found himself captivated by her intense icy gaze. Her pale aqua-colored eyes gave off no emotion nor do her facial expressions tell no confirmation of his presence to her. The prince unwittingly swas captured by her nudity, her flawless fair skin carried no blemishes or scars, her heart-shaped face, her full pink lips, and light strawberry-blonde hair draped securely over her left shoulder. She looked nothing like the definitive portrayal of Etro plastered all over the castle and Maiestas, but her imprisonment in a crystal tomb implied that she's the embodiment of the sleeping goddess. He could not help but to think that this woman was stunningly attractive but quickly suppressed those thoughts before he lost sight of his mission.

_No time for that, Noct. She could be Etro and even if she isn't, she is armed. That weapon across her lap…_

His thoughts came to a halt when he felt a chill rise up his spine, bringing him back to reality. An astonishing aura seemed to phase through his body towards a green and gold armored humanoid being as it shifted and became animated. Its unblinking eyes stared cruelly down at the prince clad in all black. How could he miss something of enormous size just as it was kneeling before the throne? Is this the champion Stella have spoke of that protects Etro as She slept? He cursed himself for being too credulous instead of retaining his guard as he should have.

"This is a bad day."

A gigantic horned knight wearing a white cape on the left shoulder rose steadily to its feet, displaying a large double-sided sword with an "S" shape to with its right arm and on the other arm, a massive shield. Noctis lunged towards the unknown guardian and swung his blade, it met with its blade, creating sparks and an unparalleled strength, and was shoved back. The prince leaped backwards to gain his balance, breathing labored.

The guardian knight, unaffected by the assault, twirled the blade, conducting electricity and a whirlwind of rose petals around the proud figure. Observing the writing on its left shoulder plate, it read "Custos Veritatis Subversor Corruptionis" (Keeper of Truth, Destroyer of Corruption). That's when it dawned on the dark prince with the recollection of who exactly this guardian is.

Odin, one of Etro's mystical entities called Eidolons.

He was up against an Eidolon, he had no chance especially when his knowledge is so limited. Odin could slice through enemies efficiently while galloping on his steed, Sleipnir and his element is of lightning. Eidolons haven't been seen by the human eye in over a century. The demonic-looking knight stood deathly quiet as though waiting for Noctis to strike again.

_I have to fight with brawn and not by brute force. He's testing me or he could have easily stomp on me and be done with it. I could…_

"_An Eidolon can only exist in your plane of existence for so long… Eventually, it reaches its limit and returns from whence it came."_

Noctis turned his head to the direction of the speaker, his blue eyes focused on the woman sitting on the throne. She hasn't moved a muscle yet it seemed like the source could have came from her. Her voice sounds exactly like the very one he heard on the night of the party. Taking in a deep breath and centering his thoughts on Odin, he decided to accept the token advice. His eyes wandered the surroundings and he calculated his situation.

_"Aha! Why didn't I think of that before?"_

As though mentally hearing his plan, Odin charged at Noctis and the prince barely had time to react and teleport, rolling away from impact. A stab of pain shot his shoulder in result of his poorly executed evade. While the guardian had his back to him, the prince materialized a rifle and fired rapidly at his target. Odin faced the bullets and lifted his unwieldy shield up, and that's when Noctis ran. He needed to be near the pillars for his plan to work, and Odin wasn't too far behind.

Noctis found himself in a dead end in the line of pillars, cautiously rearing back his armed hand and releasing his sword to slice pass the guardian knight's side. His weapon cut through the middle of the pillar of a higher mass superstructure behind Odin. As the Eidolon raised his weapon to condemn the prince to guaranteed instant death, Noctis teleported before the guardian's blade could contact the flesh of his neck and found himself behind the pillar where his sword struck.

No moment left to lose and relieved that Somnus was thrown with enough force, he pushed the pillar with all opposing force and it broke free. The superstructure fell and crushed Odin, pinned down and vulnerable. Noctis picked up his fallen blade and rushed to defeat his opponent, expecting the knight to be struggling under the constricting weight. Odin was not struggling or giving any normal response that Noctis was expecting. He laid there lifeless before slowly vanishing into the darkness like a ghost.

_Unbelievable…_

Noctis stared where Odin had been vanquished before whirling around to face any more attacks or statues that would come to life to test him. Deep down in his gut he felt that if that was an actual battle to the death, he would have lost his life today so this cannot be a factual victory.

Dying is not an option, not today or tomorrow; it's simply not his time.

Dusting himself off from the raised dust and trudging the familiar weight of Somnus with him, the prince ventured back to the location where he witnessed the awakened woman. Anticipating that she was still motionless to the chaos that had occurred, her head was cocked to the side in curiosity, scrutinizing him with the same expressionless face.

"You should commend yourself. Defeating Odin is not an easy task for a mortal."

"Huh?" Noctis had to strain to listen to what the woman was saying. She spoke finally, for the first time though rough, her lips spoke for one but the voice that came from them spoke for two. One that he heard in his mind and the other spoke in dialect he could not detect. He must have looked confused for the woman eased out of her throne and stairs appeared at her feet. With every descending step she took was closer to him, the wider Noctis' bewilderment heightened. He failed to acknowledge that a ray of light shined down upon the throne followed by a plethora of white feathers that glided down to earth.

The strawberry-blonde took the last step and the ramp of stairs was gone in a flash, her bare feet pounding against stone. She kept walking towards Noctis and he felt he just remembered that the woman was still nude. He felt a pang of urging to look away or even offer the woman his jacket but his eyes were mesmerized to her divine presence. He dared not to move or breathe as much as he would like to or retreat from her.

The woman took a preemptive approach when she was close enough for an intimate touch whether an embrace or a kiss, instead brushed her fingertips against his forehead. Her touch felt soothing and cooling that he relished in the contact momentarily and felt disappointed as she broke away and took a couple steps back.

_You're the goddess…_

"Your power is most impressive, Lucis Caelum." The woman spoke once again and this time, Noctis comprehended her and all it took was for her to touch him. He was aghast with the discovery and how she addressed him. Raising an arm outstretched towards the sunlight seeping through the ceiling of the temple, her fair skin was soon covered by untarnished silver and gold plating for a Valkyrie-like suit of armor, an alabaster feathered sash at the hip, and a humble shield attached to her left arm. "But how would you fare against a goddess of death?" She crossed her right arm over her chest and unleashed a traditional gunblade with a reinforced guard that sliced through air and gust of feathers. "Prepare yourself! We fight as one!" Her voice echoed self-righteously as she stood in her stance, her hand held before her middle and her sword hand brandished on standby. Noctis braced himself, preparing himself in a stance that matched hers.

He raised his sword meant to pierce her arms to immobilize them but the goddess blocked his incessant stabs. She wasn't able to prevent all the strikes as for one managed to pass but scratched the reinforced guard attached to her grip. Unfazed by this, the goddess rectified the prince's foolishness by shooting out the point of her blade. Noctis' cheek was slightly slit as he couldn't bring his sword back to parry, his hand instantly reared up to claim the blade. The blade followed through and left a perfect gash across his gloved palm. The prince hissed but swallowed any more indication to wound, tightening his fist and droplets of blood fell. The goddess conjured lightning that Noctis barreled and evaded through.

The goddess was exceptionally skilled, Noctis could vouch for that much. The fight with Odin was just a warm up, the goddess on the other hand is the ultimate test, kill or be killed. Evading her moves wasn't enough, she doesn't fight only with a blade but fights dirty, with various punches, elbows, and kicks, even caught him by surprise with a knee to the gut. Her mastery with casting spells and their effectiveness made the powers that the prince inherited from the powerful Caelum family look subpar. She was also quick on her feet, her legs always in motion to avoid remaining stationary in one spot for too long, her dexterity that of a true warrior.

_"She is unpredictable, striking erratically and swiftly like lightning."_

Noctis thrust the blade towards her center which caused her to narrowly evade, grazing the gold centerpiece of a bird on her chest plate off. She paid no mind and struck over her head, prompting Noctis to react the same way, caught in a deadlock of wills and spirit. Over the arc of where their blades crossed, the goddess watched him with those mysterious, peculiar eyes of hers glistening from the gentle sunlight.

The prince reacted immediately, shoving the blade out of the way and closing the gap between them. The goddess had cut his side, cleanly nicking flesh through his shirt that the prince paid no mind to. Instead, secure his defensive stance so she wouldn't have a second chance of inflicting somewhere life threatening.

As the goddess slashed at his side, the prince teleported once he saw an opportunity when she left herself open and reappeared behind her, grasping her armed wrist and tightened a hold around her neck. Though he stood only a few inches in height, the woman snarled and exerted to free herself but he gripped her wrist in a tighter vise to release the weapon and she cried out, the gunblade fell with a clang to her feet. She refused to surrender. Slamming the back of her head in his face she stole the opportunity while he was still dazed and his clutch loosened, kicked up her weapon to her waiting hand. The holy weapon shifted to a gun that shot bullets towards Noctis' direction.

Noctis could have sworn that he was seeing spots and feeling white hot flashes and such an impact, the goddess had broken his nose. Ignoring the pain and regaining his balance, the prince raised up a crystal barrier that the bullets ricocheted off. Casting the now weakened shield aside, the goddess gripped her gunblade and bolted towards him. The prince willed his fatigued legs to hasten towards her, Somnus outreached.

His sword slashed through the unprotected midsection of the goddess. Splatters of her blood upon the stone floors and her sharp gasp confirmed that. For a moment, neither the two of them moved or coped to glance at one another, time conveyed the impression that it had congealed in seconds. Noctis heard the gunblade drop and the fallen goddess collapse on her armored knees.

The prince turned to face the goddess that held on to her torso and breathing now strained. She placed another hand on the ground to support her still conscious form and reluctantly lifted her hand to study her drenched bloodied hand, incredulous.

"Goddess…"

The goddess didn't look up to him or seem to even hear him in that matter. In a feeble hoarse voice that began to sound like ownership to one voice, she regrettably spoke, "Etro... I have failed you..." Then she fell forward and succumb to the darkness that long awaited her.

Noctis heaved a heavy sigh of relief at her collapse. The woman was tenacious, far more skilled than anyone he had ever fought or sparred against before. Her swordsmanship was different than any he'd ever encountered before and her weapon, a gunblade, was a piece of equipment that was outlawed in his home due to their distaste towards firearms.

The prince approached the fallen warrior but as he approached, a loud screech sounded off out of nowhere. Noctis shut his eyes in an attempt to resist the pain but it proved too intense, the young man crying out in pain as he clutched the sides of his heads and collapsed to his knees, and then to his side.

Pain splintered across his forehead and the sound seemed to get even louder for him to bear. Soon enough, Noctis lost consciousness, his body lying right beside that of the goddess' chosen warrior.

He didn't notice the light gleaming beneath the woman's form that slowly extended to his, entrapping him in a circle before glowing brightly.

i "We meet at long last, my chosen..." /i

**Chapter 5 **

_There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so._

_William Shakespeare_

"What the bloody hell is that!"

Ignis cried out, tossing his hands to his burning ears in an attempt to block out the splintering pain of a blaring screech. The adviser had been on his search to discover any object or personification of the goddess Etro that Stella instructed them to do in their expedition at the prior night's conference but the search was proving fruitless. That was when a piercing howl broke the eerie silence of the temple and sent him reeling.

As the sound intensified, Ignis dropped to his knees and then to the floor, his legs curling up to his abdomen in a fetal position. The audibility of his own cries were blocked out by the sound, Ignis could no longer hear even his own thoughts, his lips moving only to utter his pained sounds.

What was the cause of the sound? Where was it coming from? What of Prince Noctis and the others? So many questions that needed answers but no room for thinking was permitted as the screech intensified. Ignis narrowed his vision, blurriness covering his sight as disorientation began to as in, a massive migraine following beside it. Just as the darkness of the unconscious appeared, the screech suddenly stopped.

Ignis groaned and slowly stood up from the cold temple floor, rubbing the bridge of his nose to reliever the remaining blurriness and to regain his lost vertigo. Immediately, his mind went into analyzing the situation to figure out his next move. While he was now intact with the sound gone, the adviser could not begin to think of the cause behind it.

Perhaps he or one of his companions sprung an ancient trap meant to safeguard the temple's storage of artifacts but its sudden pause gave the impression it was only designed to incapacitate which meant it had to have been controlled by someone or something. Ignis began to suspect sentries to appear to eliminate intruders but Stella had said the temple had not been accessible in a millennium so nothing could possibly have lived that long.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Footsteps and they were getting closer. The adviser threw himself against the wall where his part met an adjacent hallway where the footsteps were traveling down. Whatever was coming his way, Ignis was sure to give himself an initial advantage over his foes.

The moment a shadowy silhouette appeared at the edge of the hall, Ignis leapt out and thrust the sheath of his katana out, the scabbard striking the contour square in the nose and sending him over onto his back with a sickening crunch. Capitalizing on the element of surprise, he swept around, hand on the hilt of his katana, priming it to strike the remaining victim in the gut. Just as the blade met the light, a large hand lunged out and grabbed the katana's pommel.

"Hey, hey, take it easy, it's just me!"

Ignis looked up to see it was Gladiolus holding his weapon back, an undaunted expression on his rugged face despite the sudden attack. "Gladiolus?" The adviser sheathed his weapon, his nerves easing at the sight of his friend. Both men glanced to the fallen figure that was Prompto, sitting up. The ex-fugitive seethed as he tenderly rubbed where the adviser struck him.

"Aghhh! What the hell was that for? I didn't even get a chance to say anything to piss you off!" Prompto complained. His nose went from a shadow his usual milky white to a redder more swollen tone, his voice sounding squeakier from the blow. "Dammit, I think you broke it! First that nails on blackboard shriek and now this? I am freaking sick of this temple already!"

Ignis diverted his attention to Gladiolus at Prompto's exclamation, wearing an expression that all his companions knew as his 'intrigued face'. "Noise? You two heard that wretched sound as well?"

"You'd have to be deaf not to have heard it!" The ex-fugitive grumbled, both hand rubbing his lower back.

"Yeah, sounded like the sonic devices they'd use back in training, just a thousand times worse." Gladiolus put in, thinking momentarily back to his first days in the Caelum military. They had used sonic devices on him and the other recruits as they crawled through barbed wire amidst machine gun fire to simulate the stresses of the battlefield. The soldier recalled how several men at the time were dismissed on early leave due to the weapon having lingering effects that prevented them from sleeping and made them sensitive to loud noise. His father, a high ranking general, had the weapons banned from training as a result of their potency.

Ignis crossed his arms, his left hand cupping his pointed chin as his mind delved back into thought. The temple existed long before the dawn of sonic weaponry but perhaps the temple wasn't responsible for it. The locals were the only ones capable of wielding any sort of weaponry so they could have turned their initial hospitality into hostility and were utilizing the weapons on them.

"I believe we've overstayed our welcome, gentleman." Ignis declared, turning on his heel and started off away from his friends, his boots clicking on the brick floors, waving his hand to signal the others to follow him. "We should find our prince and make our way out of this place before we encounter any more surprises. Hopefully he located what we were looking for as well..." The adviser commanded with dead seriousness. Gladiolus nodded in agreement with Ignis' plan, personally seeking to run into any sort of opposition as he preferred a fair fight and sonic weapons were underhanded tools in his perspective.

"Wait there one second!" Prompto shouted to his advancing companions, rushing to get ahead of them, arms outstretched to stop them. Ignis and Gladiolus exchanged annoyed glances, their patience thinning with every wasted second that the fugitive held them there. "You, you owe men an apology! Do you see the damage you did!" The ex-fugitive demanded of Ignis, jabbing his finger at his swollen nose for emphasis. Instead of getting the apology he sought, the adviser and soldier just shouldered past him and continued on their way as if he was never in their way to begin with. "Hey, my apology?" His pleas meeting deaf ears, Prompto sprinted after the two. "Hey!"

Ignis stopped in his tracks, craning his head to the side, his dark eyes locking onto Prompto. "I won't give you an apology, but I will offer you some advice for the future." Prompto crossed his arms, raising a curious blond brow at what he had to say. "Do be more alert next time, you won't be hit so easily and most likely, there'll be a next time."

Prompto's jaw dropped, his folded arms following suit as he watched Ignis go after Gladiolus, the latter having overheard the 'diss' going by his laughter. The ex-fugitive huffed in anger, bolting after the two like a streak of lightning. "Ugh! Wait up, you bastards!"

* * *

White. That was the only thing that Noctis could see as he felt his eyelids flutter open to greet his surroundings. The whiteness flashed, the prince pulling up his hand to shield himself from the sudden luminosity, pulling it down only to see a clearer environment before him.

It appeared that he was still within Etro's temple albeit brighter than he recalled it being and with what appeared to be snow white feathers floating around him. The ground beneath the prince's feet felt no longer solid and steady but more...buoyant? Noctis glanced down to see he was floating above a body of water that had suddenly appeared beneath his biker boots, standing right on top of its surface but he didn't feel the slightest bit of moisture beneath his feet.

"What is this? What happened to the temple?"

In the midst of his self-interrogation, Noctis spotted a figure with its back turned standing across from him in silence. Immediately, he recognized the figure as the goddess's warrior whom he had defeated before that loud noise knocked unconscious. Noctis found that he had no weapon on him for protection for another fight, a feeling of vulnerability overtaking him. Mentally hoping his magic still worked at the very least.

The warrior turned around, slowly walking towards a fearful prince, who backed away with every step she took closer. Out of nowhere, he felt his muscles freeze up as if his limbs were being held still by an invisible force and however hard he fought, he proved incapable of getting away. The goddess's warrior raised her gunblade to him, his dark eyes staring down the barrel into lifeless eyes, feeling a bead of sweat form at his temple as he awaited the pull of the trigger that would end his life.

Fear, shame, confusion, sorrow. Those were the emotions that washed over the prince as time seemed to slow down with minutes feeling like an eternity. The warrior cocked her head to him in a manner similar to that a confused dog would give its master over an unfamiliar command.

"What is she waiting for? Kill me and just let this end already!"

"Lucis Caelum, today isn't your day to join me."

Noctis' eyes widened as the warrior suddenly lowered her weapon and sheathed it before clutching her hand to her breastplate, bowing her head in respect. The prince was confused by this sudden change in demeanor; the woman noticed this and a small smile formed on her lips. "I believe you were searching for me?"

"You... You're Etro?" Noctis whispered in disbelief. The warrior he defeated before was the goddess. He defeated a goddess? While a sense of pride entered his being, one of disappointment quickly joined it. If the goddess his kingdom was placing their every hope on was defeated by a mortal, he saw no use for Her in repelling any Niflheim invasion of Caelum other than as another warrior with a fancy title among their ranks.

"I hope you don't mind my impoliteness in saying your victory wasn't of your own merit, young prince." Etro quipped, reading through his skepticism and abruptly taking away from his momentary ego boost. The goddess smiled knowingly, having been around since the dawn of time provided a foresight beyond that of any human. "This is but an avatar of which I'm using to communicate with you. My true form is much more... Overwhelming."

"Your true form?" Noctis inquired, the slightest bit of curiosity in his tone. He always knew Etro as the woman depicted in the artwork and statues that stood across Maiestas but She seemed to imply something more "out of this world".

"Try imagining a being whose heel is the size of your gorgeous capital , whose mere appearance blinds those who bear witness to it and who possesses a voice that rattles skyscrapers. I sincerely hope you don't think you can defeat that as well as accept my apologies for being so loud before..." Etro drawled, the prince standing in silence letting the goddess's words take form in his head. Such a being defied all realism and was simply too illogical to imagine but if he was floating on water and speaking to a goddess in another realm, who was he to question Her at this point? "I don't believe you've come here to place bets on who would win between the two of us, prince. You've come to me in search of my aid..." Etro cocked Her head, the vessel's eyes locked on Noctis with an unwavering gaze, looking as if She were a sculpture made in that position. A chill was sent up his spine from it.

Noctis coughed into his fist to clear his throat, partly as a means of breaking the goddess's stare. "You are correct, I arrive as an envoy from my father, King Roman Caelum of—"

"Please cut the introductions short. You humans always make things so unnecessarily prolonged." The goddess interrupted, pacing away from the prince, waving Her armored hand to signal to him to go on. Noctis frowned in displeasure, he never enjoyed being interrupted in what he wanted to say. His eyes glared at Etro's back, believing She should respect his position as a prince, goddess or not. "And do not glare, the action is rude and doesn't make friends.

The prince muffled a growl, his patience with the goddess starting to wane. "We, my kingdom..." He stopped himself, looking for ways to summarize his mission without warranting another impatient response from Etro. The prince opted to drop the dignified tone and be entirely blunt. "My kingdom is in danger of invasion from an enemy that we are unable to do more than fight and die against or run and wait until they catch us." Noctis explained flatly, the goddess not looking at him, the prince questioning whether or not he had Her attention. "We seek your protection, Goddess Etro."

Etro spun around to the prince, no emotion readable or any sign visible as to what She was thinking, it was a perfect façade that no human could pull off without a glimmer of emotion showing. "War... It has always been the most entertaining of all the spectacles taken up by you mortals. Villains are portrayed, heroes are born, people move on one way or another... Did you know that I started the first of your conflicts?" Etro questioned in a scholarly manner. Noctis' face contorted in confusion, oblivious to this fact as well as its relevance. He shook his head and the goddess continued. "There once was a time where you were all not as centralized as you are today and only just putting the idea of leadership into action. I re-routed an incoming celestial object onto one of your nations and they initially howled 'divine wrath'"." Ominous chuckles escaped Etro, sounding as if She was taking pleasure in the memory. "Fingers were pointed, vengeance was gained on the scapegoat and that's how war's formula was made. Each one afterward just killed more and more people... As you all grew up, war was your timeless classic that was always repeated to my amusement. Your king can be so creative when it comes to destroying one another, it's astounding..."

"So you created our darkest past time... For what reason? Entertainment?" Noctis accused, appalled by the goddess's tale. His distaste for religion deepened, he could not believe that the being his nation bowed down into the dirt to as their patron was the genesis of carnage among them.

"Fulfilling my role as the goddess of death, actually. Disease is recoverable, famine is prolonged, crime is petty... I just brewed the three together to make it fair in that they suffer but you do always learn from your toil, young prince. How else would Caelum been born were they not to fight for their freedom? Why else would you be here if your nation didn't learn from past conflicts and the destruction they bring?"

Noctis attempted a retort but none came to him. He sighed heavily, conversation with Etro was proving frustrating for him between Her strict code of mannerism, cynicism and Her irritating habit of always having an answer to everything. "Let's stray away from history lessons and get back to the topic of assisting my kingdom, shall we?"

"Yes, we should, I don't seek to upset you further, Prince Noctis..." Etro stated, a mischievous smile crossing Her lips as She took a seat on the throne Her vessel was encased in. Noctis forced back the desire to rub his temples over Her jabs; he hoped the ordeal didn't go on much longer.

"Will you stand by us in our desperate hour?"

"Your people are devout believers in me and are a proud people having sovereignty over such magnificent cities, fields and beautiful freedom from The Empire..." Etro crossed a leg and rested Her head on Her palm with a pensive expression. Noctis braced himself for a rejection for an obscure reason along the lines of "non-involvement with mortals" or Her passion for war but he was prepared to argue for his people's plight. "Fine! Your nation will have me serve as their guardian."

The answer was just so simple that Noctis was speechless for a moment on what to say. "Just like that?"

"Were you expecting the wave of a wand or a speech in a tongue you don't understand that would turn the Empire to stone?" The goddess joked, Noctis looking away from Her, almost as if he was embarrassed by Her accusations. "I will provide you with an avatar of the death goddess that will herald a message to the nations that Caelum is under my protection. Those who dare defy that will be subject to divine punishment. Being that humans are fearful sheep, they will back down."

Noctis nodded, transitioning into a bow of respect to the goddess. He never thought such a time would come when he would extend his faith and gratitude to a being that he thought imaginary. Such a new feeling made him think of his mother, a devout woman that had always told him stories of the goddess in his youth and he'd be scared of some but calmed by others. The prince smiled at the memory. "Thank you for your patronage, O' goddess Etro..."

The goddess dismissed Noctis' praise, stepping down to join him from Her throne as he rose. "I think that concludes our discussion, Prince Noctis. It's about time I sent you back to your reality to bring news of my graces..." She leaned forward and barely caressed her lips against his, a touch that cannot be classified as a kiss between lovers but a brush between a leader to her follower. His eyes widened in question when she pulled back to beam at him. That same light flashed again, engulfing him whole and blurring Etro from his sight. It flashed bright then almost immediately faded away with lesser intensity as it first did.

Noctis opened his eyes again, finding himself where he was before the meeting with the goddess, before the crystal throne and besides the unconscious form of Etro's vessel. He just spoke to her… yet; she hasn't awoken or moved since the final blow that was delivered to her. Was she the messenger that She spoke about?

He saw that Her vessel was still bleeding and crawled towards her, pressing his hands down firmly to stop to halt the wound on her already stained abdomen. He cannot believe that Etro had wasted his time speaking to him while Her vessel bled into comatose. Noctis suddenly wished he had carried some potions to help her. He searched for a pulse on her throat, faint but still present. There is still time.

_Let me heal this woman…_

For whatever phenomenon, someone must have listened to his thoughts for his hands emitted a light cyan glow, a warm sensation overcame Noctis that he had taken a deep breath and closed his eyes. He exhaled slowly, focusing on healing just only the specific area and his desire to help Etro's vessel. He ignored the growing fatigue as his energy drained and transferred to his target. Under the skin tight bodysuit where the slash began, the injury sealed up. The goddess's warrior stirred, blinking disoriented, clutching one of Noctis' hands.

"Stop," Her aqua colored eyes serious to the relieved but exhausted prince's eyes before gripping tightly that made him wince. Her rough voice resounding in his ears, this was the same voice he heard at the party that belonged to herself. "You're going to do more harm than good."

Noctis nearly slumped over the woman had she not caught him. Maybe she was right, he did feel tired by a healing spell that he never knew he could utilize, embracing it regardless. The woman glanced at the nearly healed wound and ran a finger to continue the process and the fair skin mended as though no blade touched her. She straightened him upright, placing her gloved hands on his shoulders, shaking him to get him to look back at her.

"You feel it, don't you? You shouldn't waste your new power on someone like me."

"I need you alive," The prince began bluntly. Clearly, she hasn't realized of her importance yet or she would have died if not for him. "You are the avatar of the goddess and you are more useful to my nation alive than dead."

Etro's vessel scoffed at this, her features contorting with disgust with the prince's tone. "So this is the same Lucis Caelum that I'm guided to assist? I'm hardly impressed so far."

"The name is Noctis," The prince scowled, finding her disrespect for his title with great disdain. He was accustomed to subjects choosing their words carefully than being so quick to snap at him. "But that's _Prince_ Noctis to you."

"Titles mean nothing, they only make a fancier name. They lose their meaning after you're dead."

Before Noctis could retort, he heard someone call his name.

"Prince Noctis!"

Noctis broke his gaze away from the woman and stood on his feet, brushing dust off on his attire as his friends met up with him. The woman didn't bother facing the trio. Her attention was concentrated upon the goddess's throne. She kneeled before it, bowing her head honorably, touching her breastplate.

"Who's the chick, Noct?" Prompto asked in query in a nasally tone than usual.

"What happened to your nose?" Noctis noted the swelling of his nose. He didn't think there were any more guardians in this place and doubted that there were any signs of combat among his friends.

"Funny how you ask that because Ignis—"

"He walked into a wall. That is all you need to know, my prince."

"Yeah… I fell down too." Prompto added, rolling his eyes at Ignis.

"So about your findings, Noct?" Gladiolus spoke up, returning to the business at hand. "Did you find this girl too?"

"I'm Lightning Farron," Etro's vessel interjected, stepping in to their circle unexpectedly as though she disliked the fact that they were ignoring her and interrogating the prince on her presence when she can speak well for herself. "The prince lacks manners. I serve the goddess and I'm Her vessel and guardian of this temple." Noctis was curious if there were other guardians in the shrines of Ubs Celestias.

Ignis cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. "I'd hate to cut introductions short but as I told Prompto and Gladiolus, I believe that the locals have retracted their hospitality and are trying to drive us out with sonic weapons."

"That's Ignis for you…" Prompto whispered to and nudged Lightning's arm. She jerked her arm away from him and gave him a look that showed that she was unwilling to be amicable with him.

"Wait, you don't mean that loud noise from earlier?" Noctis asked to which Ignis nodded. "That was no sonic weapon but Etro's true voice."

Lightning nodded. "Yes, Etro only has one true form and can take on other appearances as She pleased, Her true voice is… unsettling to mortals."

"Unsettling? That's one way of putting it!" Prompto rubbed his palms over his ears at the mention of it. "I was sure that my ears were going to bleed from that blast."

"That was the intensity of Her voice. But forgive Her, She was merely gratified that your prince has passed Her trials and proven his strength." She raised her head to the crystal ceilings above. "I promise that you wouldn't have to endure such pain again. I am Her median to vocalize Her words."

"Huh," Gladiolus mused, stroking his bearded chin. "Wouldn't mind you taking over for the goddess there. Make us more grateful that you won't make us deaf when every time you open your mouth."

Lightning strolled silently past the men, her armored legs stepping upon stone echoed throughout the entire temple, alabaster feathered skirt swaying languidly at her hip, disregarding the stares that followed her visage. She suspended her movement before speaking. "Something's wrong. We have intruders."

Ignis became alarmed by her grave comment before turning to Noctis, raising an eyebrow. "You were saying about Her true voice?"

Noctis' eyes wandered aimlessly, trying to find the source that made Her vessel concerned but the only beings that are present were just the five of them. Lightning just explained that unbearable screeching was the goddess's true voice. There was no possibility that anyone from the outside could have entered when the temple was sealed from interlopers. "How do you know that?"

"I sense what happens inside and outside this very temple. Take my word for it." Etro's Knight explained before bolting towards the entrance, omitting the others' blatant questioning to her definitive comment. It only took a split second before Noctis followed after her and the others came in tow. The entrance was still cocooned with impenetrable crystal just as the group discovered it upon entering the sacred homage but as she neared the doors, it gave way and granted exit.

Once the large marble doors parted, every mouth in the group went a gap at the sight before them. Standing at the base of the temple were hordes of armed soldiers in neatly organized companies of men, a tall black and white flag plastered on each of the men's shoulders. The men from Caelum recognized that emblem immediately, dread overcoming them at the sight.

"I-Imperials? Here?" Gladiolus almost shouted to his friends in a mix of disbelief and bewilderment.

"How can this be possible...?" Ignis muttered under his breath as he stared back at the Imperials stationed before him. This was a violation of international code, no nation was permitted to deploy men within a sovereign nation's borders and Ubs Caelestis, while within Caelum, was regarded as a neutral territory that traditionally disallowed military forces of any kind within its borders. There was no way Niflheim could have done this unless... "Maiestas, have we been invaded?"

Lightning looked over her new group of companions and then to the enemy soldiers. Merely judging by their frantic reactions and the reservations they displayed, she correctly assumed these men belonged to the enemy of the nation Etro extended Her protection to. The goddess's vessel quietly stepped past the men, descending down the stairs of the temple with no sign of worry or fear, drawing the Imperials' attention.

"What is she doing?" Noctis asked aloud. His mind raced as he wondered if the soldiers would fire on the avatar and bring her down before he could take her home to Maiestas or if they'd open fire on them and take her and likely himself hostage. He looked to his friends but they were all fixed in their gazes on their newest companion, their minds likely racing with similar thoughts as his own. The prince braced himself to take action at any moment, the Empire would not have the main form of deterrence his people have against them.

"Enemies of Divine Etro, disperse and return to your homes! You will not be warned again, and if you resist, you secure your fate to join Her in the darkness of Valhalla!" Lightning declared, her quiet voice turning into a booming one that sounded almost as if she were speaking over a microphone. The soldiers seemed unfazed and only directed their weapons at her.

A crack and whiz finally shattered the silence following the avatar's declaration, Noctis and his friends directing their eyes above them to see a lone soldier carrying a sniper rifle. In swift motion, Lightning brought up her gunblade and blocked the bullet midflight before one of her gloved hands sparked with energy. She aimed her hand in the soldier's direction and out came a blast of magical energy in the form of a lightning bolt that detonated on impact, the Caelum men diving for cover from falling debris.

At the loss of their comrade, all of the Imperial soldiers opened fire with their weapons, a wall of bullets flying in Lightning's direction. She saw it all coming at her in slow motion, she could make out the projectiles as they approached and right before they made contact with any of her, Lightning leaped almost ten feet in the air as the bullets flew past her and became embedded in the stairs. As she descended, she tossed her gunblade at the column of men, the weapon spinning in the manner of a boomerang as it knocked over men while slicing over others' torsos. Lightning caught her weapon on its returning path and jumped in the center of the men's fixed formations to disrupt their coordination and negate their ranged advantage.

"Come on, we aren't going to just stand here like deer in a headlight!" Noctis proclaimed, whipping out Somnus from its sheath, a blue aura surrounding him as he summoned a barrier to protect him. Several weapons manifested around him including a pair of blades, an axe and a spear, the weapons floating around the prince in a second, lethal shield before he charged down the stairs to join Lightning.

The soldiers spotted Noctis and a squad of five men fired upon him, their bullets bouncing harmlessly against his summoned shield much to their dismay. In a flash, Noctis teleported in front of one and drove his sword into his gut, drawing a guttural cry from the man as he ripped the blade out and the body collapsed to the floor. The other men in his squad backed away from his shield of weapons that hovered around him, leaving themselves vulnerable to the spinning weapons, their weapons being sliced in half or knocked out of their hands.

As the prince looked up at the helpless men, his eyes turned a shade of sharp crimson as a result of the heated combat. The soldiers panicked and fled away from Noctis, who smirked at their retreat. "Cowards." As they faded from sight, Noctis bolted off to go join Lightning in battle.

Ignis dropped down from the top of the stairs, landing quietly, his leather boots not making a sound as they made contact with the ground. He gingerly crept up behind a soldier, noticing him preparing his gun to fire on his prince and in an instant, his katana shot out, the pommel going straight into the man's back, causing him to crumple slowly to the ground. "There are a total of 358 pressure points in the human body. The one I just struck will leave you in paralysis, one not far from it would have killed you." Ignis stated nonchalantly, standing over the now paralyzed soldier. The adviser's ears perked up at the sound of footsteps, he quickly lashed out the blade, the steel grazing across one's chest and the other landing in the other's side.

As he directed his attention to another approaching him with what appeared to be a crackling stun rod, one soldier attempted to approach the distracted Ignis from behind. He raised his weapon to bring it down on Ignis' head, but was brought to his knees but a bullet fired from beyond his view. Ignis was alerted to the sound and without turning, struck his katana behind him to meet flesh.

"You owe me for that, I hope you know that!" Ignis heard Prompto shout from behind him. The ex-fugitive was an expert marksman, he lay perched up at the entrance of the temple with a sniper rifle that he brought along for the expedition. Close combat wasn't his specialty so he opted to stay away from the up close fighting that the others were more adept at.

"Hey guys, over here!" A group of Imperial pointed their weapons up at the large shadow of a man that fell over them. Gladiolus grappled with one of them, keeping his head in a tight neck lock while he kept his large powerful legs laced around the other's. His immense strength and suffocating size made it difficult for either to breathe effectively and within seconds, they went unconscious.

Bullets soon flew towards the man, who quickly threw himself into the ground to avoid them. "Want to play with your guns? Fine, I'll play!" Gladiolous shouted, holding his hand over his head, a bright light coming from his palm that shifted into the shape of a large broadsword. With a battle shout, the soldier charged at the men, the Imperial hesitating to fire at him until it was too late. With an effortless heave, Gladiolus swung his sword vertically and it slammed into one of the men's jaws, shattering it and sending him into his comrade. The knocked over man's weapon fired off, distracting the other soldiers' enough for Gladiolus to rush in and strike them down. The blade was as big as he was but he swung it around as if it was a much smaller and lighter weapon. Needless to say, most men didn't get up after he struck them down.

Lightning cartwheeled to the side, firing several rounds from her gunblade midflight, each one hitting it's mark and disabling the soldiers they hit, blood shooting out of their throats. Warmth erupted in her chest at that moment, momentary faintness coming over the goddess' warrior as she stumbled on her feet. "Etro..." The soft murmur left her lips. The goddess was trying to contact her, she could hear Her voice within her, requesting for her input on the combat prowess of Her chosen. "They fight as one, their relationship bounds them together to kindle their fighting spirit no matter the circumstances, whether they are outnumbered or should any of them fall..." Lightning elaborated, overseeing Noctis and his companions caught in the ongoing and fierce combat with the Niflheim soldiers. The combat was ruthless and they were outnumbered hundreds to four but none of them seemed to tire, they just kept fighting and fighting. A part of Lightning felt a hint of nostalgia, familiarity to her own nature. "Etro... Your gift is a valuable one indeed to keep us living..."

BANG!

Lightning gasped, her head going down to her thigh, a large red hole existed where a high caliber bullet pierced and exited. One of the soldiers had hit her in her distractions, she didn't even sense it coming as she had with other attacks before. The vessel collapsed onto her side, the weight of her legs suddenly too great for her to get back up, the burning sting not making it any easier.

Noctis heard a loud crash behind him, quickly disarming his current opponent and bashing Somnus's hilt on to his face before addressing the sound. The prince's eyes widened at the sight of Lightning on the ground, a pool of blood forming around her lower body, his acute hearing picking up her pained groans.

"Dammit! She's been hit!"

The prince teleported in a flash over to his new fallen comrade, kneeling down beside her so to keep the barrier up and take her into it to protect her from any opportunistic attacker looking for a kill to his name. "Are you okay? Where were you hit?"

Lightning winced and grit her teeth in pain as she lowered her head to the bloody hole she received. "My leg... It's hard to get up..." Noctis sighed in frustration and got on a knee beside her, holding his palms over her wound much like earlier in the temple when he healed her. Immediately, Lightning's grasped his wrist and scowled. "I warned you against wasting your energy on me with that power!"

"You're wounded so silence yourself and let me heal you!" Noctis growled, forcing her hands off of him and positioning themselves over her wound.

"You're being foolish, prince!"

Just as the light began to shine from the prince's palms, a loud whiz cracked the air amidst all the gunfire and clashing metal. Noctis' eyes widened as a he spotted a rocket coming in his and Lightning's direction. The prince tossed himself over the woman just as the rocket exploded against his shield, sending force of the blast sending the two flying into the temple wall. Noctis hit the wall hard against his back, sliding down slowly, an unconscious Lightning in his lap.

His vision began to fade and all sounds sound muffled and afar when they were only mere feet away from him, the explosion from the deafening blast being the culprit. The prince groaned in pain, slowly looking down to make sure the goddess's warrior was alive, weakly attempting to check for a pulse but his rattling head and aching muscles made the effort far more laboring. His hand just collapsed, watching the chaos around him continue as darkness crept into view.

"Noct! Noctis!"

The prince could barely make out the familiar voice of Prompto, the blonde coming into view, running at full speed to him and Lightning. Noctis opened his mouth to speak as his friend came within arm's length but no words came out of his raspy throat.

"Hey, hey stay with me, dude. I'm going to get you and your girlfriend to safety..."

Noctis' head slumped onto his side, Prompto's frantic pleas fading along with his perception of the world around him. The last words he heard were Prompto yelling to Ignis and Gladiolus for help or to tell them what happened. Whichever one it was, the prince could not tell at this point.

That was when all went black.


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: And here we are - the end of Act I, woo hoo! As promised, you get your Caecus Tenus Verum-i trailer, look on to my profile and there's a link to my YouTube, the video should be on the front page. Here is the link to the video too, just delete the double spaces please! ** ww w. you tube watch?v= kmxS QIE37wE

**This is not yet the end. We hope that you have been enjoying reading BttT so far and stay in tune for more, we have more Acts and chapters to get through, relationships to grow, plots to thicken, more backstories to form, answers for anything! We welcome any input in reviews and always delighted to see new readers and favorites/alerts to me. Don't stop, they are a true motivation!  
**

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**Chapter 5 **

_There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so._

_William Shakespeare_

"What the bloody hell is that!"

Ignis cried out, tossing his hands to his burning ears in an attempt to block out the splintering pain of a blaring screech. The adviser had been on his search to discover any object or personification of the goddess Etro that Stella instructed them to do in their expedition at the prior night's conference but the search was proving fruitless. That was when a piercing howl broke the eerie silence of the temple and sent him reeling.

As the sound intensified, Ignis dropped to his knees and then to the floor, his legs curling up to his abdomen in a fetal position. The audibility of his own cries were blocked out by the sound, Ignis could no longer hear even his own thoughts, his lips moving only to utter his pained sounds.

What was the cause of the sound? Where was it coming from? What of Prince Noctis and the others? So many questions that needed answers but no room for thinking was permitted as the screech intensified. Ignis narrowed his vision, blurriness covering his sight as disorientation began to as in, a massive migraine following beside it. Just as the darkness of the unconscious appeared, the screech suddenly stopped.

Ignis groaned and slowly stood up from the cold temple floor, rubbing the bridge of his nose to reliever the remaining blurriness and to regain his lost vertigo. Immediately, his mind went into analyzing the situation to figure out his next move. While he was now intact with the sound gone, the adviser could not begin to think of the cause behind it.

Perhaps he or one of his companions sprung an ancient trap meant to safeguard the temple's storage of artifacts but its sudden pause gave the impression it was only designed to incapacitate which meant it had to have been controlled by someone or something. Ignis began to suspect sentries to appear to eliminate intruders but Stella had said the temple had not been accessible in a millennium so nothing could possibly have lived that long.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

Footsteps and they were getting closer. The adviser threw himself against the wall where his part met an adjacent hallway where the footsteps were traveling down. Whatever was coming his way, Ignis was sure to give himself an initial advantage over his foes.

The moment a shadowy silhouette appeared at the edge of the hall, Ignis leapt out and thrust the sheath of his katana out, the scabbard striking the contour square in the nose and sending him over onto his back with a sickening crunch. Capitalizing on the element of surprise, he swept around, hand on the hilt of his katana, priming it to strike the remaining victim in the gut. Just as the blade met the light, a large hand lunged out and grabbed the katana's pommel.

"Hey, hey, take it easy, it's just me!"

Ignis looked up to see it was Gladiolus holding his weapon back, an undaunted expression on his rugged face despite the sudden attack. "Gladiolus?" The adviser sheathed his weapon, his nerves easing at the sight of his friend. Both men glanced to the fallen figure that was Prompto, sitting up. The ex-fugitive seethed as he tenderly rubbed where the adviser struck him.

"Aghhh! What the hell was that for? I didn't even get a chance to say anything to piss you off!" Prompto complained. His nose went from a shadow his usual milky white to a redder more swollen tone, his voice sounding squeakier from the blow. "Dammit, I think you broke it! First that nails on blackboard shriek and now this? I am freaking sick of this temple already!"

Ignis diverted his attention to Gladiolus at Prompto's exclamation, wearing an expression that all his companions knew as his 'intrigued face'. "Noise? You two heard that wretched sound as well?"

"You'd have to be deaf not to have heard it!" The ex-fugitive grumbled, both hand rubbing his lower back.

"Yeah, sounded like the sonic devices they'd use back in training, just a thousand times worse." Gladiolus put in, thinking momentarily back to his first days in the Caelum military. They had used sonic devices on him and the other recruits as they crawled through barbed wire amidst machine gun fire to simulate the stresses of the battlefield. The soldier recalled how several men at the time were dismissed on early leave due to the weapon having lingering effects that prevented them from sleeping and made them sensitive to loud noise. His father, a high ranking general, had the weapons banned from training as a result of their potency.

Ignis crossed his arms, his left hand cupping his pointed chin as his mind delved back into thought. The temple existed long before the dawn of sonic weaponry but perhaps the temple wasn't responsible for it. The locals were the only ones capable of wielding any sort of weaponry so they could have turned their initial hospitality into hostility and were utilizing the weapons on them.

"I believe we've overstayed our welcome, gentleman." Ignis declared, turning on his heel and started off away from his friends, his boots clicking on the brick floors, waving his hand to signal the others to follow him. "We should find our prince and make our way out of this place before we encounter any more surprises. Hopefully he located what we were looking for as well..." The adviser commanded with dead seriousness. Gladiolus nodded in agreement with Ignis' plan, personally seeking to run into any sort of opposition as he preferred a fair fight and sonic weapons were underhanded tools in his perspective.

"Wait there one second!" Prompto shouted to his advancing companions, rushing to get ahead of them, arms outstretched to stop them. Ignis and Gladiolus exchanged annoyed glances, their patience thinning with every wasted second that the fugitive held them there. "You, you owe men an apology! Do you see the damage you did!" The ex-fugitive demanded of Ignis, jabbing his finger at his swollen nose for emphasis. Instead of getting the apology he sought, the adviser and soldier just shouldered past him and continued on their way as if he was never in their way to begin with. "Hey, my apology?" His pleas meeting deaf ears, Prompto sprinted after the two. "Hey!"

Ignis stopped in his tracks, craning his head to the side, his dark eyes locking onto Prompto. "I won't give you an apology, but I will offer you some advice for the future." Prompto crossed his arms, raising a curious blond brow at what he had to say. "Do be more alert next time, you won't be hit so easily and most likely, there'll be a next time."

Prompto's jaw dropped, his folded arms following suit as he watched Ignis go after Gladiolus, the latter having overheard the 'diss' going by his laughter. The ex-fugitive huffed in anger, bolting after the two like a streak of lightning. "Ugh! Wait up, you bastards!"

* * *

White. That was the only thing that Noctis could see as he felt his eyelids flutter open to greet his surroundings. The whiteness flashed, the prince pulling up his hand to shield himself from the sudden luminosity, pulling it down only to see a clearer environment before him.

It appeared that he was still within Etro's temple albeit brighter than he recalled it being and with what appeared to be snow white feathers floating around him. The ground beneath the prince's feet felt no longer solid and steady but more...buoyant? Noctis glanced down to see he was floating above a body of water that had suddenly appeared beneath his biker boots, standing right on top of its surface but he didn't feel the slightest bit of moisture beneath his feet.

"What is this? What happened to the temple?"

In the midst of his self-interrogation, Noctis spotted a figure with its back turned standing across from him in silence. Immediately, he recognized the figure as the goddess's warrior whom he had defeated before that loud noise knocked unconscious. Noctis found that he had no weapon on him for protection for another fight, a feeling of vulnerability overtaking him. Mentally hoping his magic still worked at the very least.

The warrior turned around, slowly walking towards a fearful prince, who backed away with every step she took closer. Out of nowhere, he felt his muscles freeze up as if his limbs were being held still by an invisible force and however hard he fought, he proved incapable of getting away. The goddess's warrior raised her gunblade to him, his dark eyes staring down the barrel into lifeless eyes, feeling a bead of sweat form at his temple as he awaited the pull of the trigger that would end his life.

Fear, shame, confusion, sorrow. Those were the emotions that washed over the prince as time seemed to slow down with minutes feeling like an eternity. The warrior cocked her head to him in a manner similar to that a confused dog would give its master over an unfamiliar command.

"What is she waiting for? Kill me and just let this end already!"

"Lucis Caelum, today isn't your day to join me."

Noctis' eyes widened as the warrior suddenly lowered her weapon and sheathed it before clutching her hand to her breastplate, bowing her head in respect. The prince was confused by this sudden change in demeanor; the woman noticed this and a small smile formed on her lips. "I believe you were searching for me?"

"You... You're Etro?" Noctis whispered in disbelief. The warrior he defeated before was the goddess. He defeated a goddess? While a sense of pride entered his being, one of disappointment quickly joined it. If the goddess his kingdom was placing their every hope on was defeated by a mortal, he saw no use for Her in repelling any Nfeilheim invasion of Caelum other than as another warrior with a fancy title among their ranks.

"I hope you don't mind my impoliteness in saying your victory wasn't of your own merit, young prince." Etro quipped, reading through his skepticism and abruptly taking away from his momentary ego boost. The goddess smiled knowingly, having been around since the dawn of time provided a foresight beyond that of any human. "This is but an avatar of which I'm using to communicate with you. My true form is much more... Overwhelming."

"Your true form?" Noctis inquired, the slightest bit of curiosity in his tone. He always knew Etro as the woman depicted in the artwork and statues that stood across Maiestas but She seemed to imply something more "out of this world".

"Try imagining a being whose heel is the size of your gorgeous capital , whose mere appearance blinds those who bear witness to it and who possesses a voice that rattles skyscrapers. I sincerely hope you don't think you can defeat that as well as accept my apologies for being so loud before..." Etro drawled, the prince standing in silence letting the goddess's words take form in his head. Such a being defied all realism and was simply too illogical to imagine but if he was floating on water and speaking to a goddess in another realm, who was he to question Her at this point? "I don't believe you've come here to place bets on who would win between the two of us, prince. You've come to me in search of my aid..." Etro cocked Her head, the vessel's eyes locked on Noctis with an unwavering gaze, looking as if She were a sculpture made in that position. A chill was sent up his spine from it.

Noctis coughed into his fist to clear his throat, partly as a means of breaking the goddess's stare. "You are correct, I arrive as an envoy from my father, King Roman Caelum of—"

"Please cut the introductions short. You humans always make things so unnecessarily prolonged." The goddess interrupted, pacing away from the prince, waving Her armored hand to signal to him to go on. Noctis frowned in displeasure, he never enjoyed being interrupted in what he wanted to say. His eyes glared at Etro's back, believing She should respect his position as a prince, goddess or not. "And do not glare, the action is rude and doesn't make friends.

The prince muffled a growl, his patience with the goddess starting to wane. "We, my kingdom..." He stopped himself, looking for ways to summarize his mission without warranting another impatient response from Etro. The prince opted to drop the dignified tone and be entirely blunt. "My kingdom is in danger of invasion from an enemy that we are unable to do more than fight and die against or run and wait until they catch us." Noctis explained flatly, the goddess not looking at him, the prince questioning whether or not he had Her attention. "We seek your protection, Goddess Etro."

Etro spun around to the prince, no emotion readable or any sign visible as to what She was thinking, it was a perfect façade that no human could pull off without a glimmer of emotion showing. "War... It has always been the most entertaining of all the spectacles taken up by you mortals. Villains are portrayed, heroes are born, people move on one way or another... Did you know that I started the first of your conflicts?" Etro questioned in a scholarly manner. Noctis' face contorted in confusion, oblivious to this fact as well as its relevance. He shook his head and the goddess continued. "There once was a time where you were all not as centralized as you are today and only just putting the idea of leadership into action. I re-routed an incoming celestial object onto one of your nations and they initially howled 'divine wrath'"." Ominous chuckles escaped Etro, sounding as if She was taking pleasure in the memory. "Fingers were pointed, vengeance was gained on the scapegoat and that's how war's formula was made. Each one afterward just killed more and more people... As you all grew up, war was your timeless classic that was always repeated to my amusement. Your king can be so creative when it comes to destroying one another, it's astounding..."

"So you created our darkest past time... For what reason? Entertainment?" Noctis accused, appalled by the goddess's tale. His distaste for religion deepened, he could not believe that the being his nation bowed down into the dirt to as their patron was the genesis of carnage among them.

"Fulfilling my role as the goddess of death, actually. Disease is recoverable, famine is prolonged, crime is petty... I just brewed the three together to make it fair in that they suffer but you do always learn from your toil, young prince. How else would Caelum been born were they not to fight for their freedom? Why else would you be here if your nation didn't learn from past conflicts and the destruction they bring?"

Noctis attempted a retort but none came to him. He sighed heavily, conversation with Etro was proving frustrating for him between Her strict code of mannerism, cynicism and Her irritating habit of always having an answer to everything. "Let's stray away from history lessons and get back to the topic of assisting my kingdom, shall we?"

"Yes, we should, I don't seek to upset you further, Prince Noctis..." Etro stated, a mischievous smile crossing Her lips as She took a seat on the throne Her vessel was encased in. Noctis forced back the desire to rub his temples over Her jabs; he hoped the ordeal didn't go on much longer.

"Will you stand by us in our desperate hour?"

"Your people are devout believers in me and are a proud people having sovereignty over such magnificent cities, fields and beautiful freedom from The Empire..." Etro crossed a leg and rested Her head on Her palm with a pensive expression. Noctis braced himself for a rejection for an obscure reason along the lines of "non-involvement with mortals" or Her passion for war but he was prepared to argue for his people's plight. "Fine! Your nation will have me serve as their guardian."

The answer was just so simple that Noctis was speechless for a moment on what to say. "Just like that?"

"Were you expecting the wave of a wand or a speech in a tongue you don't understand that would turn the Empire to stone?" The goddess joked, Noctis looking away from Her, almost as if he was embarrassed by Her accusations. "I will provide you with an avatar of the death goddess that will herald a message to the nations that Caelum is under my protection. Those who dare defy that will be subject to divine punishment. Being that humans are fearful sheep, they will back down."

Noctis nodded, transitioning into a bow of respect to the goddess. He never thought such a time would come when he would extend his faith and gratitude to a being that he thought imaginary. Such a new feeling made him think of his mother, a devout woman that had always told him stories of the goddess in his youth and he'd be scared of some but calmed by others. The prince smiled at the memory. "Thank you for your patronage, O' goddess Etro..."

The goddess dismissed Noctis' praise, stepping down to join him from Her throne as he rose. "I think that concludes our discussion, Prince Noctis. It's about time I sent you back to your reality to bring news of my graces..." She leaned forward and barely caressed her lips against his, a touch that cannot be classified as a kiss between lovers but a brush between a leader to her follower. His eyes widened in question when she pulled back to beam at him. That same light flashed again, engulfing him whole and blurring Etro from his sight. It flashed bright then almost immediately faded away with lesser intensity as it first did.

Noctis opened his eyes again, finding himself where he was before the meeting with the goddess, before the crystal throne and besides the unconscious form of Etro's vessel. He just spoke to her… yet; she hasn't awoken or moved since the final blow that was delivered to her. Was she the messenger that She spoke about?

He saw that Her vessel was still bleeding and crawled towards her, pressing his hands down firmly to stop to halt the wound on her already stained abdomen. He cannot believe that Etro had wasted his time speaking to him while Her vessel bled into comatose. Noctis suddenly wished he had carried some potions to help her. He searched for a pulse on her throat, faint but still present. There is still time.

_Let me heal this woman…_

For whatever phenomenon, someone must have listened to his thoughts for his hands emitted a light cyan glow, a warm sensation overcame Noctis that he had taken a deep breath and closed his eyes. He exhaled slowly, focusing on healing just only the specific area and his desire to help Etro's vessel. He ignored the growing fatigue as his energy drained and transferred to his target. Under the skin tight bodysuit where the slash began, the injury sealed up. The goddess's warrior stirred, blinking disoriented, clutching one of Noctis' hands.

"Stop," Her aqua colored eyes serious to the relieved but exhausted prince's eyes before gripping tightly that made him wince. Her rough voice resounding in his ears, this was the same voice he heard at the party that belonged to herself. "You're going to do more harm than good."

Noctis nearly slumped over the woman had she not caught him. Maybe she was right, he did feel tired by a healing spell that he never knew he could utilize, embracing it regardless. The woman glanced at the nearly healed wound and ran a finger to continue the process and the fair skin mended as though no blade touched her. She straightened him upright, placing her gloved hands on his shoulders, shaking him to get him to look back at her.

"You feel it, don't you? You shouldn't waste your new power on someone like me."

"I need you alive," The prince began bluntly. Clearly, she hasn't realized of her importance yet or she would have died if not for him. "You are the avatar of the goddess and you are more useful to my nation alive than dead."

Etro's vessel scoffed at this, her features contorting with disgust with the prince's tone. "So this is the same Lucis Caelum that I'm guided to assist? I'm hardly impressed so far."

"The name is Noctis," The prince scowled, finding her disrespect for his title with great disdain. He was accustomed to subjects choosing their words carefully than being so quick to snap at him. "But that's _Prince_ Noctis to you."

"Titles mean nothing, they only make a fancier name. They lose their meaning after you're dead."

Before Noctis could retort, he heard someone call his name.

"Prince Noctis!"

Noctis broke his gaze away from the woman and stood on his feet, brushing dust off on his attire as his friends met up with him. The woman didn't bother facing the trio. Her attention was concentrated upon the goddess's throne. She kneeled before it, bowing her head honorably, touching her breastplate.

"Who's the chick, Noct?" Prompto asked in query in a nasally tone than usual.

"What happened to your nose?" Noctis noted the swelling of his nose. He didn't think there were any more guardians in this place and doubted that there were any signs of combat among his friends.

"Funny how you ask that because Ignis—"

"He walked into a wall. That is all you need to know, my prince."

"Yeah… I _fell_ down too." Prompto added, rolling his eyes at Ignis.

"So about your findings, Noct?" Gladiolus spoke up, returning to the business at hand. "Did you find this girl too?"

"I'm Lightning Farron," Etro's vessel interjected, stepping in to their circle unexpectedly as though she disliked the fact that they were ignoring her and interrogating the prince on her presence when she can speak well for herself. "The prince lacks manners. I serve the goddess and I'm Her vessel and guardian of this temple." Noctis was curious if there were other guardians in the shrines of Ubs Celestias.

Ignis cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. "I'd hate to cut introductions short but as I told Prompto and Gladiolus, I believe that the locals have retracted their hospitality and are trying to drive us out with sonic weapons."

"That's Ignis for you…" Prompto whispered to and nudged Lightning's arm. She jerked her arm away from him and gave him a look that showed that she was unwilling to be amicable with him.

"Wait, you don't mean that loud noise from earlier?" Noctis asked to which Ignis nodded. "That was no sonic weapon but Etro's true voice."

Lightning nodded. "Yes, Etro only has one true form and can take on other appearances as She pleased, Her true voice is… unsettling to mortals."

"Unsettling? That's one way of putting it!" Prompto rubbed his palms over his ears at the mention of it. "I was sure that my ears were going to bleed from that blast."

"That was the intensity of Her voice. But forgive Her, She was merely gratified that your prince has passed Her trials and proven his strength." She raised her head to the crystal ceilings above. "I promise that you wouldn't have to endure such pain again. I am Her median to vocalize Her words."

"Huh," Gladiolus mused, stroking his bearded chin. "Wouldn't mind you taking over for the goddess there. Make us more grateful that you won't make us deaf every time you open your mouth."

Lightning strolled silently past the men, her armored legs stepping upon stone echoed throughout the entire temple, alabaster feathered skirt swaying languidly at her hip, disregarding the stares that followed her visage. She suspended her movement before speaking. "Something's wrong. We have intruders."

Ignis became alarmed by her grave comment before turning to Noctis, raising an eyebrow. "You were saying about Her true voice?"

Noctis' eyes wandered aimlessly, trying to find the source that made Her vessel concerned but the only beings that are present were just the five of them. Lightning just explained that unbearable screeching was the goddess's true voice. There was no possibility that anyone from the outside could have entered when the temple was sealed from interlopers. "How do you know that?"

"I sense what happens inside and outside this very temple. Take my word for it." Etro's Knight explained before bolting towards the entrance, omitting the others' blatant questioning to her definitive comment. It only took a split second before Noctis followed after her and the others came in tow. The entrance was still cocooned with impenetrable crystal just as the group discovered it upon entering the sacred homage but as she neared the doors, it gave way and granted exit.

Once the large marble doors parted, every mouth in the group went a gap at the sight before them. Standing at the base of the temple were hordes of armed soldiers in neatly organized companies of men, a tall black and white flag plastered on each of the men's shoulders. The men from Caelum recognized that emblem immediately, dread overcoming them at the sight.

"I-Imperials? Here?" Gladiolus almost shouted to his friends in a mix of disbelief and bewilderment.

"How can this be possible...?" Ignis muttered under his breath as he stared back at the Imperials stationed before him. This was a violation of international code, no nation was permitted to deploy men within a sovereign nation's borders and Ubs Caelestis, while within Caelum, was regarded as a neutral territory that traditionally disallowed military forces of any kind within its borders. There was no way Nfeilheim could have done this unless... "Maiestas, have we been invaded?"

Lightning looked over her new group of companions and then to the enemy soldiers. Merely judging by their frantic reactions and the reservations they displayed, she correctly assumed these men belonged to the enemy of the nation Etro extended Her protection to. The goddess's vessel quietly stepped past the men, descending down the stairs of the temple with no sign of worry or fear, drawing the Imperials' attention.

"What is she doing?" Noctis asked aloud. His mind raced as he wondered if the soldiers would fire on the avatar and bring her down before he could take her home to Maiestas or if they'd open fire on them and take her and likely himself hostage. He looked to his friends but they were all fixed in their gazes on their newest companion, their minds likely racing with similar thoughts as his own. The prince braced himself to take action at any moment, the Empire would not have the main form of deterrence his people have against them.

"Enemies of Divine Etro, disperse and return to your homes! You will not be warned again, and if you resist, you secure your fate to join Her in the darkness of Valhalla!" Lightning declared, her quiet voice turning into a booming one that sounded almost as if she were speaking over a microphone. The soldiers seemed unfazed and only directed their weapons at her.

A crack and whiz finally shattered the silence following the avatar's declaration, Noctis and his friends directing their eyes above them to see a lone soldier carrying a sniper rifle. In swift motion, Lightning brought up her gunblade and blocked the bullet midflight before one of her gloved hands sparked with energy. She aimed her hand in the soldier's direction and out came a blast of magical energy in the form of a lightning bolt that detonated on impact, the Caelum men diving for cover from falling debris.

At the loss of their comrade, all of the Imperial soldiers opened fire with their weapons, a wall of bullets flying in Lightning's direction. She saw it all coming at her in slow motion, she could make out the projectiles as they approached and right before they made contact with any of her, Lightning leaped almost ten feet in the air as the bullets flew past her and became embedded in the stairs. As she descended, she tossed her gunblade at the column of men, the weapon spinning in the manner of a boomerang as it knocked over men while slicing over others' torsos. Lightning caught her weapon on its returning path and jumped in the center of the men's fixed formations to disrupt their coordination and negate their ranged advantage.

"Come on, we aren't going to just stand here like deer in a headlight!" Noctis proclaimed, whipping out Somnus from its sheath, a blue aura surrounding him as he summoned a barrier to protect him. Several weapons manifested around him including a pair of blades, an axe and a spear, the weapons floating around the prince in a second, lethal shield before he charged down the stairs to join Lightning.

The soldiers spotted Noctis and a squad of five men fired upon him, their bullets bouncing harmlessly against his summoned shield much to their dismay. In a flash, Noctis teleported in front of one and drove his sword into his gut, drawing a guttural cry from the man as he ripped the blade out and the body collapsed to the floor. The other men in his squad backed away from his shield of weapons that hovered around him, leaving themselves vulnerable to the spinning weapons, their weapons being sliced in half or knocked out of their hands.

As the prince looked up at the helpless men, his eyes turned a shade of sharp crimson as a result of the heated combat. The soldiers panicked and fled away from Noctis, who smirked at their retreat. "Cowards." As they faded from sight, Noctis bolted off to go join Lightning in battle.

Ignis dropped down from the top of the stairs, landing quietly, his leather boots not making a sound as they made contact with the ground. He gingerly crept up behind a soldier, noticing him preparing his gun to fire on his prince and in an instant, his katana shot out, the pommel going straight into the man's back, causing him to crumple slowly to the ground. "There are a total of 358 pressure points in the human body. The one I just struck will leave you in paralysis, one not far from it would have killed you." Ignis stated nonchalantly, standing over the now paralyzed soldier. The adviser's ears perked up at the sound of footsteps, he quickly lashed out the blade, the steel grazing across one's chest and the other landing in the other's side.

As he directed his attention to another approaching him with what appeared to be a crackling stun rod, one soldier attempted to approach the distracted Ignis from behind. He raised his weapon to bring it down on Ignis' head, but was brought to his knees but a bullet fired from beyond his view. Ignis was alerted to the sound and without turning, struck his katana behind him to meet flesh.

"You owe me for that, I hope you know that!" Ignis heard Prompto shout from behind him. The ex-fugitive was an expert marksman, he lay perched up at the entrance of the temple with a sniper rifle that he brought along for the expedition. Close combat wasn't his specialty so he opted to stay away from the up close fighting that the others were more adept at.

"Hey guys, over here!" A group of Imperial pointed their weapons up at the large shadow of a man that fell over them. Gladiolus grappled with one of them, keeping his head in a tight neck lock while he kept his large powerful legs laced around the other's. His immense strength and suffocating size made it difficult for either to breathe effectively and within seconds, they went unconscious.

Bullets soon flew towards the man, who quickly threw himself into the ground to avoid them. "Want to play with your guns? Fine, I'll play!" Gladiolous shouted, holding his hand over his head, a bright light coming from his palm that shifted into the shape of a large broadsword. With a battle shout, the soldier charged at the men, the Imperial hesitating to fire at him until it was too late. With an effortless heave, Gladiolus swung his sword vertically and it slammed into one of the men's jaws, shattering it and sending him into his comrade. The knocked over man's weapon fired off, distracting the other soldiers' enough for Gladiolus to rush in and strike them down. The blade was as big as he was but he swung it around as if it was a much smaller and lighter weapon. Needless to say, most men didn't get up after he struck them down.

Lightning cartwheeled to the side, firing several rounds from her gunblade midflight, each one hitting it's mark and disabling the soldiers they hit, blood shooting out of their throats. Warmth erupted in her chest at that moment, momentary faintness coming over the goddess' warrior as she stumbled on her feet. "Etro..." The soft murmur left her lips. The goddess was trying to contact her, she could hear Her voice within her, requesting for her input on the combat prowess of Her chosen. "They fight as one, their relationship bounds them together to kindle their fighting spirit no matter the circumstances, whether they are outnumbered or should any of them fall..." Lightning elaborated, overseeing Noctis and his companions caught in the ongoing and fierce combat with the Nfeilheim soldiers. The combat was ruthless and they were outnumbered hundreds to four but none of them seemed to tire, they just kept fighting and fighting. A part of Lightning felt a hint of nostalgia, familiarity to her own nature. "Etro... Your gift is a valuable one indeed to keep us living..."

BANG!

Lightning gasped, her head going down to her thigh, a large red hole existed where a high caliber bullet pierced and exited. One of the soldiers had hit her in her distractions, she didn't even sense it coming as she had with other attacks before. The vessel collapsed onto her side, the weight of her legs suddenly too great for her to get back up, the burning sting not making it any easier.

Noctis heard a loud crash behind him, quickly disarming his current opponent and bashing Somnus's hilt on to his face before addressing the sound. The prince's eyes widened at the sight of Lightning on the ground, a pool of blood forming around her lower body, his acute hearing picking up her pained groans.

"Dammit! She's been hit!"

The prince teleported in a flash over to his new fallen comrade, kneeling down beside her so to keep the barrier up and take her into it to protect her from any opportunistic attacker looking for a kill to his name. "Are you okay? Where were you hit?"

Lightning winced and grit her teeth in pain as she lowered her head to the bloody hole she received. "My leg... It's hard to get up..." Noctis sighed in frustration and got on a knee beside her, holding his palms over her wound much like earlier in the temple when he healed her. Immediately, Lightning's grasped his wrist and scowled. "I warned you against wasting your energy on me with that power!"

"You're wounded so silence yourself and let me heal you!" Noctis growled, forcing her hands off of him and positioning themselves over her wound.

"You're being foolish, prince!"

Just as the light began to shine from the prince's palms, a loud whiz cracked the air amidst all the gunfire and clashing metal. Noctis' eyes widened as a he spotted a rocket coming in his and Lightning's direction. The prince tossed himself over the woman just as the rocket exploded against his shield, sending force of the blast sending the two flying into the temple wall. Noctis hit the wall hard against his back, sliding down slowly, an unconscious Lightning in his lap.

His vision began to fade and all sounds sound muffled and afar when they were only mere feet away from him, the explosion from the deafening blast being the culprit. The prince groaned in pain, slowly looking down to make sure the goddess's warrior was alive, weakly attempting to check for a pulse but his rattling head and aching muscles made the effort far more laboring. His hand just collapsed, watching the chaos around him continue as darkness crept into view.

"Noct! Noctis!"

The prince could barely make out the familiar voice of Prompto, the blonde coming into view, running at full speed to him and Lightning. Noctis opened his mouth to speak as his friend came within arm's length but no words came out of his raspy throat.

"Hey, hey stay with me, dude. I'm going to get you and your girlfriend to safety..."

Noctis' head slumped onto his side, Prompto's frantic pleas fading along with his perception of the world around him. The last words he heard were Prompto yelling to Ignis and Gladiolus for help or to tell them what happened. Whichever one it was, the prince could not tell at this point.

That was when all went black.


	7. Act II: Chapter 6

**AN: Today or what's left of my birthday, August 16th, to upload a chapter to BttT and four drabbles for Sephight! It's been a while since we updated so here's a long chapter that we have been working on and it won't be the last ;) Hope you enjoy the gang, the Prompto and Gladiolus comic relief, Ignis and Lightning slapstick, Noctis... being Noctis lol Please bear with us and review! I'll answer any questions given to one or both of us on the story so far. If you thought that Light and Noct could have easily wiped out the intruding army, yes, they could but that wouldn't be very interesting now would it? Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolus have to get in on the action too. Oh, and I like Prompto and subtle hinted pairings like Prompting despite my co-author hating him. XD  
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**Note: Maybe the last time I checked, some of the chapters are duplicated so if there are any more mistakes like that or more, I'll recheck. ^^  
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******ACT 2: CHAPTER 1 (CHAPTER SIX)**

**ACT 2**

"_Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess_

_We seek it thus and take it to the sky_

_Ripples form on the water's surface_

_The wandering soul knows no rest"_

_- Loveless, Act One_

Prince Noctis' eyes fluttered open to meet the shining light of wherever he was. The prince's head throbbed painfully, feeling as if his brain was being compacted by his skull, gently rubbing his temple to relieve some of the pain. He tried to recap what had happened prior to the large blank spot that came up when he attempted thinking back on recent events.

They had found Etro as part of the expedition his father had sent him on, or at least anything of divine symbolism. The goddess had dispatched Her warrior, a woman by the curious name of Lightning Farron, to accompany them in Her place to serve as a herald of the goddess's favor towards his kingdom. After regrouping with Ignis, Prompto and Gladiolus, they were drawn into battle with Niflheim forces that had attempted to breach the temple. There was an explosion and that was the last thing he could remember.

Noctis groaned from the headache, pinching the bridge of his nose to counter it. He glanced around the room he awoke in; it appeared to be of great luxury going by the furnishings and professionally painted portrait that hung in the corner of the room of Maiestas. For a moment, Noctis believed himself to be home in his bedroom but the slight movements he was feeling from his bed combined with the slight drawl of an engine that he could make out, the prince had the impression that he was... On a train? Had Nfeilheim captured him?

"Hello, Prince Noctis." The prince shot his head in the direction of the voice to see Lightning sitting in the arm chair across from the bed he was on. A memory flashed back to him, he had thrown himself over Lightning when the explosion happened and she was unconscious before everything went black. Did she recover quickly and she saved him? Upon closer inspection, Noctis noted her glowing pupils and the greater paleness in her features and that's when it hit him.

"Etro..."

The goddess nodded in response, confirming his assumption. "Do forgive my inability to drive away those Imperials as my purpose to you obliged me to do, but curiosity towards the strength of my champions got the better of me, I'm afraid..."

The prince's ears perked up to the goddess's words, directing his stare towards Her. "So that was another one of your cruel games back there? We could have been killed!" Noctis snapped at an entirely unfazed Etro. He hasn't even been around the goddess for long and already, his patience and tolerance for Her tendencies was minuscule at best. Her disregard for human life and toying with violence disturbed the prince to no end but a part of him knew better to harp on it. She was the goddess of death after-all, this was to be expected of Her.

"I do hope that simply having a title that puts you above the mortals you preside over gives you an exemption to my tests. I care little for such trivial titles among your kind, they truly are pointless." Etro crossed Her vessel's long legs, shutting her glassy eyes. For a moment there was absolute silence aside from the noise from the train's movements as the goddess appeared to be in great thought. "I sense... You are confused over something, my prince?"

Yet again, it was if Etro could read his mind as if his thoughts were written all over his face. Noctis grunted as he sat himself up on the side of the bed in spite of the burning sensation he felt from his bandaged back and torso. "Yes... That healing ability, it was unlike any Cure spell I've ever used." Noctis sobered up, gently leaning forward, his elbows resting on his legs and his stern eyes on Etro. "I was never able to do this before..."

"Consider it a complimentary gift that came with my protection to your kingdom." The goddess stated, opening Her lifeless eyes to the prince. She noted the confused expression upon Noctis' face and smiled. "Despite my position as the goddess of death, I do possess an ability to salvage life and I've passed it on to you, Prince Noctis. Life is precious and should be lived to its fullest but mortals are unable to comprehend such values and their souls end up mine in droves, often at premature times."

Noctis furrowed his brow at Her words. "Ironic that you're the one saying this considering how much joy you find in watching and making us tear each other apart like animals from the hardships you've given us." He growled bitterly, thinking back to Her story on the origin of war and the role She played in it.

"All part of the natural order but please, my prince, let's keep on the topic of your new power rather than trying to play judge over a goddess." Etro retorted placidly, the disgruntled prince silencing himself so She may continue. "Think of this as both a gift, and a test. A test to see how willing you are to cherish life even if it may possibly cost you your own." Noctis' eyes brightened at that, thinking back to the drain he felt whenever he used the ability. The prince subconsciously raised his hand to touch his heart.

"That's why I felt weakened after every time..."

"You are going to be king one day. Think of it as a means of measuring your willingness to sacrifice for your people when the day comes..." The goddess cooed, taking in Noctis' disposition, clearly making out the stresses that that burden had on him. As far as She was concerned, it was for the best. "I'm afraid that's all the time I had for you today, my prince. My vessel is still wounded from your valiant attempt to save her so I think now would be the time to let her rest up..." Noctis looked up at Etro, irate at Her usage of Lightning's weakened form. "We will meet again like this, quite regularly actually so in the meantime, consider listening to my vessel on rationing your new power. I don't want to see you kill yourself so soon..." With that, the vessel's eyes shut and a flash occurred beneath her shut eyelids, Lightning's body collapsing to the floor before Noctis.

Noctis rose from the bed, paying no heed to the messages of pain being sent to his brain and pushed his body gingerly stepping towards the fallen woman. He wondered how much it drained the unfortunate vessel to be used as a median between the divine to relay cryptic messages to him and its consequences for every occasion. Lightning had fell like a marionette whose master had snipped the strings off, she lay unmoving slumped over on her side, strands of her strawberry blond hair hiding her features. He kneeled down beside her and brushed them away. Her expression was indeed disclosing fatigue but none that of harm from the possession, Etro had used her body to wait beside the bed until the prince had awoken just for the purpose for minced words. She's awfully youthful, roughly around the same age as him, to be entitled in Her service.

_Cherry red lips, silky pink hair, flawless skin, striking eyes… She's a goddess beyond the elements…_

"I thought I heard voices in here."

Gladiolus' footsteps advanced to the entrance to the room and without warning, he opened the door wide, taking in the sight of Noctis and Lightning on the floor. "Hey, I thought we carried princess to bed, how did she get out?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. The older man bore some bruises that showed that they were in the process of healing; blotchy dark violet splotches on his right cheekbone.

_Just how long was I out?_

"Noctis," Prompto appeared behind the larger man, a smirk on his lips. He was largely fine due to being their sharpshooter in the battle except the broken nose from earlier but the swelling had decreased. "Looks like she can't get enough of you!" An audible thud joined in and Prompto chafed the back of his head, wincing. "Ow! What the Hell, Ignis?!"

"Please try your hardest not to be a fool for a day." Ignis pushed through Gladiolus and Prompto, holding a book with a hard cover in his hands, smacking the cover against his open palm. He had some cuts and scratches but nothing too deep. His neutral gray eyes turned expectedly on Noctis, a calm prerogative tone taking place firmly to bolster his true concerns. "Prince Noctis, you should not be out of bed with your injuries, especially not on the floor."

"I've rested enough as it is, Ignis," Noctis mentally batted off Ignis' words, seeing no reason to stay in bed when there are other duties to attend to. "Prompto, help me get her up and onto the bed. Prompto obliged, lifting Lightning into his arms and positioning her on the bed Noctis had occupied. "Stay with her, in case she needs anything when she gets up."

"Aye, aye," Prompto affirmed with a mock salute before dropping it. "What about you, Noct?" He seemed uncertain of what to expect for when the goddess's warrior comes to, but she is harmless as long as she doesn't turn on them.

Noctis rose to his feet, placing a hand on a bed post to support himself. Gladiolus offered his hand but the prince lifted a hand to refuse. He would be all right if he doesn't attempt any more straining stunts like he had earlier. It was not helping his situation when the train is in motion, causing him to sway to its force. "I'm going to call Dad."

"You still should not be situated overexerting yourself." Ignis tapped his foot on the hollow flooring, crossing his arms in annoyance. "Your health holds a higher priority than speaking to His Highness at the moment."

Noctis shook his head, a grunt escaping his lips as he steadied himself upright. "I'm fine, Ignis, now stop fretting and just find something I can use to contact Dad."

Ignis let out a reluctant sigh, choosing not to argue with his Prince. Once the boy had his mind set on something, it was often hard to change it. Often it proved difficult to differentiate whether he was just spoiled from being a prince or simply stubborn. The adviser reached into his blazer and pulled out a hand sized gray pad. In order to remain in contact with one another across the vast expanses of their kingdom, nobles and other high profile citizens from Maiestas were issued holopads that would allow communication without any sort of connection issue or hacking attempts as the device worked purely on a heavily protected server that was held in a location deep within the capital and operated only by engineers appointed by the King that met strict criteria.

The pad lit up in a light blue flash upon activation and establishing a transmission link between the train they were on board and Castle Caelum. After a moment, the blue light extended across into the form of a rectangle and soon the unmistakable face of King Roman manifested in its center.

"Prince Noctis, my son, was the expedition a success?" Roman questioned immediately, a sense of urgency in his tone.

Noctis nodded, his eyes shut. "Yes... We found entry into Ubs Caelestis's temple and recovered a vessel of the goddess. A woman, she calls herself 'Lightning' and she claims to be the one we were looking for..." The prince pondered over revealing that he had made conversation with Etro herself, not once but twice already, however he chose to withhold that information from the King for the time being. His body was aching and his head still throbbed from the battle with Niflheim so he wasn't enthused by having to hear a "preachy" statement against his stance as a nonbeliever.

"Good... Good... This is excellent news. You have done a great service to your kingdom with this success, my son. A first of many successes to be had on your road to being King one day." Roman commended. Noctis smiled slightly at his words, not often was he praised by his father on such a level, the feeling was a warming one. "I do hope you ran into no troubles in your quest though?"

"My lord, if I may?" Ignis interjected, choosing to answer in Noctis' place. He set the holopad down on the nearby dresser, stepping in front of it before performing a bow of respect to Roman. The King acknowledged Ignis with a nod, allowing him to continue. "We encountered an unexpected enemy, a legion of Imperial soldiers from Niflheim at the Ubs Caelestis temple. A violation of the Empire's agreement to stay outside our borders..." Ignis watched as the King's eyebrows formed a 'V' at his words, concern evident. "I believe they were after the vessel."

"But I don't understand. How did they even know she was housed in that temple or that you were going there to the city to make such a bold attempt?" The King demanded, crashing his fist down on the arm of his throne, a crack being heard by Noctis, Ignis and Gladiolus on the other end of the transmission. A growl escaped him as he regained his composure, his eyes going back to his adviser. "You are well on your way home, I take it? Once you arrive, we'll have to figure out a means of handling this situation through the means Stella directed at our last conference... But for now, this meeting will be adjourned and you all may rest while you can. I'll be seeing you soon." With that, the King ended the transmission, the screen going blank and the hologram turning into a beam before withdrawing into the holopad.

Gladiolus stood up from his place against the wall in the back of the room, glancing around to his companions. "Your dad seemed less pissed than I thought he'd be when Ignis popped the big 'Imperial Invasion' headlines to him, Noct. Got any idea on what he may be planning?" The soldier inquired, stepping beside Ignis who collected his holopad.

"He has a plan... He wouldn't have sent us randomly into such a mission if he didn't have anything in mind, Gladiolus." Noctis replied, remembering Gladiolus was absent from the meeting that led to the expedition to retrieve Lightning.

The elder man held his hands up defensively. "Hey, you were the one there when you were all locked in the throne room. I was just brought along here to play chaperone and big scary guy for this field trip."

"_Serah's death was your doing. At your doing, she began her journey… and__ this, her life was lost. It was you. You are to blame for this doom."_

Lightning shot open her eyes to the unfamiliar surroundings drenched in cold sweat. It has been quite some time that the goddess's vessel has had nightmares like those. What felt like several days in crystal stasis was in reality, was over a century. Her aqua colored eyes observed the room she was in. Quaint, old-fashioned design and wherever she is in, it is in motion, no doubt a train, but more lavish than the last time she was on one.

"Hey, you're awake and about time too." Lightning started at the voice belonging to the young blond male, the one that was the sharpshooter of the group with a sense that doesn't fail to go unnoticed. His voice was altered and possibly due to that broken nose he received. The blond raised his hands in assurance, meaning no harm, she can see past his facade and behind it lay leeriness. He had been in the room alone with her as his other friends weren't present. "Don't go crawling this time. You were really heavy to carry in that trashcan." He commented on the condition of her armor.

Lightning's Valkyrie-like armor was beyond repair, completely damaged between the battle with the prince and afterward against the Niflheim forces. The golden bird centerpiece on her breastplate had long been gone during the duel with Etro's chosen, the feathers on the alabaster sash have significantly dwindled from its original quantity, the greaves were largely intact minus where the bullet penetrated her right thigh, gauntlets were soaked in dried blood, and her shield was chipped in many areas where the silver and gold lost most of its decoration.

"How did I get here?" Lightning sat up, a chilled compress rested on her forehead fell off at the sudden movement. Her soft voice came out strained and hoarse. The last thing that she could remember is the prince shielding her body with his when a rocket was launched at them. It was because of him that she wasn't in any worst condition than this.

"You tell me, we found you on the floor when you should have been in the other room." He jerked a hooked thumb to the wall next to his left.

"I was…" She paused, finding the right word as she touched her temple with a gloved hand. "Indisposed so my recollection is shattered." That was somewhat the truth. The vessel is always premeditated aware of what Etro relays messages across when using her body, but the drawbacks of that is unawareness of her body's actions. Despite this, she can feel the goddess's presence lying dormant of her being who would exert Her dominating will requiring the knight to step aside. The truth is after the incident at the temple, she slipped into sub-consciousness and Etro had taken over to speak to Lucis Caelum. The goddess would never allow Lightning to die.

"Think you can put that into something coherent?" The male was picking inside his ear and flicking off the excess wax off his pinky finger.

Lightning, though finding the act revolting, shook her head, deciding to ignore the simpleton if he couldn't understand the first time she has told the group about what she is. As though sensing how his manner repulsed the woman, the male held out a glass of water. She looked up to him questionably.

"Water on the counter is for you," the male offered, realizing that she was wounded and couldn't stand to get it herself. "Noct said to take care of you when you wake up."

The woman took glass gratefully and drained it long sips. The cool liquid was a fast relief to her parched throat. She nodded her thanks before setting the glass down to a bottle of water. Where she is must be a bedroom, water is here on the nightstand because the throat would always feel dry waking up.

"The name's Prompto, in case you wanted to know." The blond introduced himself, recalling that they didn't have the luxury to properly do so earlier. Better now than never or she would have to address them in less formal methods.

"Prompto…" She repeated slowly, the name sliding off her tongue. No surname, just Prompto. Easy enough to remember and she can assume that's his first name. "Where are the others? Are we the only ones here?"

"Yup, it's just you and me here alone. But don't any ideas. You're not type." The one that introduced himself as Prompto waved his hand in an all business-like manner, then a teasing smirk appeared. "Just kidding, you're so my type."

"Duly noted." She rolled her eyes. What a charmer. She reached out to clutch the front of his shirt as soon as he came to retrieve the glass, gently applying pressure with lithe precise fingers to the broken nose. He was taken by surprise and the soft glow began and ended before he could protest. "There. Talking with your voice like that must be embarrassing." She released him, causing him to stagger back. His nose was healed, swelling completely vanished from sight and the bone fractures arranged in place, no sign that it was broken in the first place.

Prompto could see that as he delicately touched his nose, grinning profusely, noticing the difference. He expected that she made it worse or it expanded in a larger size. Wordlessly, he spread his arms wide and leaned forward to embrace the woman.

Lightning held out an outstretched hand on his face, keeping the male at an arm's length distance. She was only feeling generous, there was no reason for him to express his gratitude in this manner. "I could easily break it again if you wish." It wasn't just a threat, it was a promise.

"Heh." That threat halted the man as he dropped his arms and forced himself to sit down in a chair at her bedside. "Okay, I can take a hint. He swiped a hand under his nose cheekily. "You want to know what happened?"

Lightning absorbed by the suggestion to his change of topic, her fingers grazed the heavily bandage gauze on her thigh, fingernails pricking at the thickness of the material distractedly. Her curiosity was expressed more than she let on, every detail matters.

"Well, where to begin?" Prompto averted his eyes to a corner of the room as though searching whatever was there before he found his answer. "I'll start when you and Noct were knocked out by that blast."

_Prompto was keeping score of his kills and preoccupied with each bullet fired so he was given time to reload. A true marksman always must do these at all times and never lose count or that's on your head. He threw himself behind a ledge where many of the Nfeilhiem forces haven't paid much attention to his hiding spot. Not when Gladiolus, Ignis, Noctis, and Lightning have drawn their full attention. He avoids close confrontations unless it cannot be helped. He is the ranged marksman of the group that provides support. No targets would escape from his sight._

Just keep picking them off one by one, _he thought with every calm breath he drew, the trigger firing without interruption of his thoughts_.

_Then an explosion combusted behind him and the ground trembled under him. It sounded like a rocket was being fired off, but wherever it hit, it was already too late to stop it. His head turned, searching for if the rocket's direction hit its target. Gladiolus, Ignis, and he weren't affected. The smoke cleared, and the targets were Noctis and Lightning. _

_"Noct! Noctis!" He broke into a run towards his fallen comrades, abandoning Ignis and Gladiolus to their own battles ahead. They would have to bear without him as backup for a while._

Shit, shit, shit. Don't die. Don't die. Don't **die**!

_He was nearly an arm's length away from them before the prince was unconscious upon the goddess's vessel. He protected her from the blast with his own body. Shaking him awake wasn't doing any good, he's out cold. Same went for Pouty. Out cold. _

_"Hey, hey stay with me, dude. I'm going to get you and your girlfriend to safety..." He frantically assured aloud, mostly to himself. It's just the three of them that are fighting for their lives, already outnumbered since the beginning. It was futile to plead for help from those two, but he did anyway, his mind was whirling in all the confusion and desperation. _

_He had to evacuate them now. At times like these call for real men._

_He lifted the woman in his arms first, he had a feeling that Noctis would value her safety first of all before his own. The woman groaned groggily and with surprising strength, clung to Prompto's shirt. He jerked his chin down to her, noticing the flushed expression on her face. Possibly the pain from the partly healed wound on her leg. From a faraway distance, she seemed like the most uptight soldier you'll ever meet, but up close like this, she was actually… cute. His heartbeat thudded hard against his chest and time seemed to slow down as the outside noise lessened as he took in more of her features…_

_Everything became static and noiseless except for his and her heartbeats._

_A gust of air blew mysteriously behind the two and doves flew out of the temple on cue. The gods have decided that these two lost souls were meant to be together._

_It was love at first sight. _

"That is absurd."

"Hey, we got time to kill and I thought I could enlighten the mood with my magnificent narration. Come on, those guys still aren't back so I'm making the best of it." The blond admitted to that slight edit into the story.

Lightning crossed her arms over her chest, her expression very hard to read. "If you don't tell me the truth, I'm going to leave to look for them."

"All right, all right, just let me continue!" Prompto threw his arms in the air in exasperation. "Geez, you're no better than Ignis."

_A __Niflheim__ troop attacked him for the two unconscious people. The troop ambushed the unsuspecting marksman, and before Prompto could reach for his shotgun, he was disarmed. _

I was hoping it didn't have to come to this.

_He wrestled him to the ground before knocking him out with a one strong punch to the face that was brought out by his protectiveness. _

"Prompto…." Her low tone warned dangerously close to the edge.

"Serious, I'm serious this time! That's what happened!" The man answered immediately. "Without the little bits about the doves and your expression."

Lightning distinguished that was the truth that time from the frustration on his face. She shouldn't interrupt anymore. It sounds like the story is coming to a conclusion.

_When Prompto brushed himself off, he decided to stay put where he is and shoot any more troops that come near. Noctis and Lightning were too heavy to carry by himself. Eventually, he heard orders calling for retreat from the enemy. Their numbers have largely dwindled._

_Prompto raised his arms and called out his other companions. They were alive. He still can't believe that they were able to fight the enemy off like that._

_Noctis and Lightning weren't too badly wounded, but hurt enough that they needed to get them somewhere for proper dressing of the wounds before the enemy regrouped. They couldn't have given up just like that. Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto look like they have been through better days and could use some rest and relaxation before deciding what to do after that._

_He wondered where Ignis went while Gladiolus insisted on helping Noctis and Lightning out himself. Ignis stood before a flipped over, burning vehicle. His jaw dropped with hurt on his face, he looked absolutely heartbroken. It was like he was watching a cremation of something beloved._

Gee, who knew how much that car meant for him more than Noct?

_Remembering what he had said as they were on their way to Ubs Caelestis…_"I hope you lose your car…" _It'll probably get him killed, but he felt sincere and that gave him confidence in speaking up. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. It was must be his fault that those __Niflheim__ soldiers blew up his car by wishing it when Glasses wouldn't let him use the radio. The enemy sabotaged the vehicle as though it was for kicks or they knew that they would lose to the group or prevent them by going through with some brilliant escape plan. At least it exploded _before _they were in it. _

"_Sorry about jinxing your car…"_

_Ignis didn't say a word, but fixated a cold, hard stare that was meant to bore holes into Prompto's skull. At least he's not staring at what used to be his car. And that he's immune to that sort of treatment from him._

"_You know, Ignis," the blonde swallowed, his mouth already dry and trying his hand at least removing the distraught look on his friend's face. It was honestly scaring__ him that he could ever be that way about anything. "The last time someone gave me that look, I got laid."_

_The royal advisor's dark gaze was transfixed, his mouth creasing into a hard, thin line. __"You're out of lying or flattering yourself. It's only a fifty-fifty guess on which one." _

"_So I won't get laid? Phew!"Prompto held his arms out defe__nsively. "You're a handsome fellow, but I don't swing that way."_

_Ignis rolled his eyes to Prompto's grin. "You seriously should cease trying so hard to be humorous."_

"_Uh, guys, think you two can ease up on that chatter?" Gladiolus approached the two men, Etro's vessel over his right shoulder and holding Noctis tucked under his arm. "Right now, we have to get new transportation and get these two first-aid. This obviously isn't helping our problem."_

Lightning growled in irritation with the blond's inclusion of every single word and action exchanged in her incapacitation. "Just tell us where the hell we're going?! I don't care about the tension you share with your companions, it's not what I'm here for!"

Prompto shrank back at the sudden outburst, pulling his arms close to his chest as if he was defending himself from a potential battery from the vessel. "Okay, okay, chill out! We're on a train heading home to Maiestas, that's where they want you to meet Noct's dad, the king or something." The fugitive sobered up, moving away from Lightning to the dresser in the corner of the room. He pulled open a drawer, his hands going inside to pull out a simple set of clothes that he tossed it over to her.

The outfit consisted of a khaki coat held closed by a black belt and several buckles with blue pauldrons, a short sleeved turtleneck shirt to go beneath the coat and beige pantyhose. It was a simple outfit that definitely appeared to be more preferable to wear than the battered and heavy armor that Etro had gifted her with. Lightning pulled off her silver boots, a welcome cool coming over her bare feet as they made contact with the fuzzy carpet beneath them. Just as she was about to remove her cuirass, she stopped and glared daggers in the direction of Prompto, who stood innocently with his arms behind his back and eyes on the floor. "Get out."

"Oh right, right, that's the gentleman thing to do..." Prompto stuttered, opening the bedroom door and putting one foot out there. Before leaving, he leaned his body back in there, a playful smile on his lips. "Sure you don't need any he—!" He quickly cut himself short when he saw a steel boot come flying his way. The fugitive shut the door, ducking his head when he heard the loud thud of the boot hitting the door and then floor.

The vessel sighed as she continued to undress. She certainly hoped the rest of the mission wasn't going to involve much more contact with the fugitive. He was harmless, she knew that, but there was only so much patience she had for his type.

"Goddess, let me get through this mission..."

* * *

Following several hours of travel, the train in which Noctis and his companions were traveling on board reached its final stop in the capital city of Maiestas. In contrast to the evening setting where the population was replaced by hordes of automobiles and the sidewalks were largely absent of people, the reverse was true during the day.

All the markets and stands were bustling with citizens; men, women and children intermixed doing their daily routines or simply going out for pleasure. Most of them were dressed expensively with many going about in masterfully tailored suits and coats or high heels and beautiful dresses for the women. Black dominated the scene, most of the automobiles and citizens clad in the color with several buildings sporting black tinted windows that limited one's ability to peer into them. It was a blessing that Maiestas was so brightly lit at night or else it'd be impossible to travel at night.

Lightning gazed upon the city in awe of the large structures and futuristic architecture, never witnessing anything quite like it before. Cocoon could hardly compare to the capital with the exception of many lights and a large population. The vessel faintly questioned the possibility that Maiestas was the modern parallel to the city of Academia.

"Home sweet home! As depressing as I left it!" Prompto declared, stepping out of the passenger car ahead of the rest of his group with his arms outstretched. The fugitive sighed and placed his hands on his hips, a slight growl erupting from his stomach. "Damn, I'm starving... When was the last time we ate? Did we even eat?"

"Deal with it. If you wanted to gorge yourself you'd have eaten what was offered to you." Ignis growled, looking around for the royal procession that he had contacted to meet them at the train station so to reach Castle Caelum faster. He hated to keep King Roman waiting.

"Come on, I don't want to eat Chocobo or whatever fluffy little guy they put in there! That's just gross and evil!" The blond shot back, shaking his head in disgust. Prompto was a strict vegetarian; aboard the train they had been served meat dishes, something he vehemently refused to put in his mouth.

Gladiolus gave a hearty laugh at his friend's distaste. "Tough guy here has a soft spot for the chickens. Ain't he cute?" The soldier playfully pat a pouting Prompto on the back and gave him a shake.

"Guys, the limo." Noctis spoke up, pointing towards a black stretched limousine with a uniformed man beckoning to the group with a wave of his hand from the back of the vehicle. The prince led the group, allowing Lightning to enter first before getting in about half way. He noticed the driver's eyes follow the vessel into the car from the corner of his vision. "You're to drive the car, we can open our own doors. Go do what my father pays you to do and keep your eye on the road..." Noctis ordered, annoyed by the man's gawking. The man blinked, nodding his head quickly before scurrying to the driver's seat to avoid upsetting his patron.

"What was that about?" Lightning inquired, crossing her long legs over each other as Noctis took a seat beside her. The prince just shook his head in dismissal, she just shrugged. While Noctis was a fierce fighter and a strong willed individual, he still possessed the snobbish attitude that was to be expected of a royal, something Lightning found irking. The wealthy had no idea how those 'beneath them' had to fight to survive due to a cozy, pampered existence that brought little hardship if any. The vessel saw them in no position to subjugate or scorn those less fortunate. "We're en-route to the palace of your King, right?"

"My father." Noctis mumbled, not fancying being spoken of as if he was just another one of Roman's subjects rather than his actual position as Crown Prince.

"You'd be correct, we are going to bring you forth to meet King Roman Vesnica Caelum, the one who sent us to locate you." Ignis interjected, sitting on her right as Gladiolus and Prompto took seats across from them. The limo soon started up at the final entrant boarding, driving past many people surrounding a shrine of Etro that stood in the center of four fountains in a square formation at its feet. Ignis took note of Lightning's attention to it. "Maiestas is littered with many shrines in Her honor, history declaring that the first rulers of Caelum built this city as a sign of gratitude to Her guiding them here by means of a comet thousands of years ago."

"Ironic..." All heads turned to Noctis, who sat with his head down and arms crossed. "They founded a home while that comet obliterated a whole other land and lead to the beginning of war..." Noctis remembered Etro's story of the origin of conflict down to the very last detail; how She brought upon that comet just to arouse conflict among peace faring men. The story sickened him.

"Everything happens for a reason, prince. One suffers, another strives." Lightning stated, her eyes on some paupers outside her window being bypassed as if they were invisible by clearly richer citizens. "It's just the natural order of things..."

"Hmph. Sounds like an excuse for the Fal'Cie to go about and do as they please. They practically operate on a 'we're more superior than you so we do whatever we want' basis."

"And that makes it any worse than the way your society operates with your rich and your poor? Your privileged and underprivileged? Please, saying there is just your human hypocrisy."

"You're human too, don't exemplify what you're trying to preach against."

Lightning was about to bite back but that was when their vehicle came to a stop. Noctis made sure he was the first to exit, opening the door before making his way into the courtyard, her eyes on his back.

"He's...kinda a hater on all things faithful..." Prompto said to the vessel across him. The fugitive wasn't huge on faith himself but he wasn't one to accept its inconsistent morals and themes. Lightning said nothing, just stepping out of the limo to follow Noctis. He sighed. "We all just can't be friends..."

"Prince Noctis!"

The prince followed his name call, his eyes darting to the entrance of the castle to see a familiar sight; Stella Nox Fleuret. "Stella? You're still here?" Noctis had expected the Tenebraen to have vacated his castle after his father's attempt on her life, any normal woman would have done so out of fear or the tension of such an incident. She must have a will of steel between losing her home to the Empire and staring down a weapon twice now in his kingdom.

Stella smiled warmly, walking over to meet Noctis half way down his path, arms tucked behind her back. "I have nowhere else to go and your father so graciously offered his home as my 'sanctuary', I suppose you can call it." The prince was somewhat skeptical of her claim as Roman was never a man who'd change his opinions of others so swiftly, especially in regard to one he personally almost killed. Stella cocked her head at the perplexity she noted on his features. "Do you find the arrangement bothersome, my prince?"

Noctis blinked, slightly surprised that Stella could read him so easily, few were able to do so. Those purple eyes of hers were most piercing. "No, I just hope you find Maiestas to your liking, Stella. Enjoy your stay." He countered, hoping that his miss up before was covered. Before she could respond, Lightning, Ignis and Gladiolus caught up with him. Once Stella caught eye of Lightning, Noctis noted the almost longing gaze between the two women, it was as if they knew one another. That was when a flashback of the earlier night at Nihilsomno where he first met Stella. "The light... She sees it too..."

"You... You're the vessel of the goddess Etro..." Stella exclaimed quietly, stepping past Noctis to Lightning, moving as if she was almost in a trance. The goddess's vessel's eyes widened slightly, both Stella and Noctis knowing full well that Lightning recognized the Tenebraen's status as another viewer of Etro's light. Stella dropped to her knees before her in reverence. "IT is a privilege to see you, my name is Stella Nox Fleuret of Tenebrae."

"On your feet, formalities are unnecessary. I'm hardly a goddess, much less can I hold a title to my name." Lightning stated, her tone sounding as if she were one of the priests the group had encountered. A stark contrast to her earlier snark. She put her hand on Stella's shoulder, a sensation suddenly shooting up her body. Lightning shut her eyes and exhaled. "You are not of this land..."

"No, I'm from a land that stands no longer..." Stella sobered up, lowering her head in sorrow at the thought of her beloved Tenebrae. The flames, gunfire and screams were all too fresh in her mind.

"Etro will give you retribution, Nox Fleuret... All lives join Her and they want the same closure you seek." The vessel consoled solemnly, prompting Stella to stare up at her, smile returned and her purple orbs becoming slightly watery. Lightning felt a twinge of sympathy for the other woman; she was just another orphan.

Much like herself.

Abruptly, the sound of the castle entrance opening erupting drew everyone's attention to the appearance of King Roman as the gates retreated, flanked by two sentries. "Prince Noctis, you've returned..." The King said as he made his way over to greet his son. He grasped Noctis' bicep, giving a slight squeeze and a proud smile. "You've done well, my son, all of you have." Roman regarded Noctis' friends with a nod before directing his attention to Lightning. "You must be the vessel. Etro, our goddess..."

"You're the sovereign of this land? The one that requested my awakening?" Lightning questioned out of a desire to be sure of the King's identity. She was aware of how royals would send others in their places out of a sense of importance they placed upon themselves and she did not seek to speak to an envoy. Perhaps she was not in a position to judge due to doing the same for Etro but that was done out of the goddess actually existing on a higher plane of existence than a self-proclaimed deity.

"Yes, that would be me; King Roman Vesnica Caelum." Roman introduced, locking his aged eyes with Etro's vessel's, searching for any noteworthy sign that showed divinity as he expected but they appeared to be largely normal. "Etro, we implored that you would protect us in what may end up being our darkest hour and you have given answer to our call. Your benevolence will forever be glorified in our history."

"Her protection has been extended to your home, King Caelum, the goddess does not turn Her back on those that worship at Her altar. Your faith appeases Her..."

Roman dropped his head in a swift bow before standing upright again. "There are no words that I can say that expresses my gratitude to you, vessel of Etro..." A calming sense of hope and relief washed over the group from Maiestas, survival in the face of potential destruction and annexation seemingly assured by Etro's word of protection to their land. After a serene silence, Roman spoke once more. "Well, we must make haste, there is much that needs to be done!" He swiveled around to Noctis and Ignis and beckoned for them to follow him. "Come you two, there is much that I need to explain that has happened in your absence and an even greater deal to plan ahead with."

"Right away, sire!" Ignis stated, following close behind Roman back into Castle Caelum with Noctis in tow. The prince spared one last glance back at the others before disappearing along with Ignis, Roman and his sentries.

Everyone watched as Noctis and Ignis left them to follow the King inside of the castle. Stella snapped out of her place and brightened. "Well, I should be going now. I only wanted to make sure Prince Noctis and the rest of you returned safe and sound." She said to no one in particular. Her smile turned expectantly to the goddess' vessel as she bowed her head to go back in the way she came in a leisurely stroll.

"Cute girl..." Prompto commented. "Why hasn't Noct ever introduced me to her?" An audible grumble interrupted his thoughts as he rubbed his stomach, suddenly embarrassed by it. "Aww shit, got to get something to eat now!" He ran to another entry way to the castle, leaving Lightning and Gladiolus in the dust.

"Well, now that he's gone, we better get going before he gets back. He's worse on a full stomach."

Lightning didn't know what to expect out of the eldest of her companions as she wasn't well acquainted with him but his actions certainly spoke louder than his words in battle. While he is more on the aloof side, he shares a mature sense of humor than Prompto and was clearly as loyal to the prince as the others. She suspects that the man is a sensible person unlike the prince and the blonde. "You're Gladiolus, correct?"

"Yup, that's me, Gladiolus Protestas at your service." Gladiolus continued without missing a beat to the answer.

His walk, how he keeps his chin up and back straight, his stature showed more of what identity he had been molded to since his youth. "You have a soldier's stance." Light detected, recalling a thought about her past life in the Cocoon military. That was nearly a century ago but training stays firm as it became instinct in how you react to certain situations.

"Huh," Gladiolus chuckled in slight amusement, halting in place, he seemed surprised, it became too easy to when in the presence of a mysterious woman that wishes aid one's homeland. "Sharp, aren't you? Yeah, I have some training, comes with being the military brat growing up. No big deal."

He was modest and so far, a good first impression out of his other friends who would seemingly flaunt their status around. She couldn't gauge his rank just by his looks or even if he has a place in the military here. "Don't discredit yourself. I can tell by how you move that it's not an act."

Gladiolus wearily groaned, scratching his beard in disinterest. "Don't try analyzing me too hard, you'll be unimpressed, Lightning."

The doors leading to the entrance of Castle Caelum opened on their own upon the two individuals going in. Inside were polished, shined patterned aisles that seemed to stretch out forever at a glance. As it was dark at this time of the night, chandeliers twinkled brightly rather than blindingly like Lightning first suspected. Luminous shadows loomed behind the two. A castle made for a king.

There were paintings of notable individuals with stern expressions boring down their superior gazes upon onlookers. Perhaps they were Noctis' ancestors or other figures involved in the founding of the country and its capital. She could clearly envision hooked noses and beady hawk eyes before dismissing the thought for its ridiculousness.

Gladiolus pointed out at the large room they entered from the grand halls, the center of the room glowing with the ongoing embers of a fireplace, giving a well-lit comforting light. It was vacant, possibly due to this hour of the day and how it wasn't in use by anyone. The furniture was well maintained with several tables and leather seats that looked much better to keep on display than to sit on. "Living den, long walk from the entrance to the actual rooms you're looking for. As Prompt would say about this is that room to your right is where old men reclined, smoke their pipes, and talk about how their grandkids never called. Otherwise, it's hardly used."

Lightning pointed to the left. "Dining hall?"

"Yeah, usually filled with guests but when it doesn't, it feels empty. Wonder why they never made a smaller room with just family. When it's not meal time, the cooks place fresh fruit for a quick grab and go snack. Hard to ever go hungry here."

Prompto walked out of the kitchen doors with arms full with bread. "Thanks, Luna! You're always taking great care of me!" He called over his shoulder clearly to a maid waving shyly at him. He noticed Lightning and Gladiolus. "Hey, guys!"

"You got to stop schmoozing the maids over, heartthrob. They get the wrong idea."

"It's not my fault that they love me. It must be Etro's gift for making me so good looking." The fugitive uttered through a mouthful of bread. Gladiolus groaned and sees Lightning staring at a portrait of a young woman.

While Gladiolus and Prompto were chattering, Light caught her eye on a portrait of a relatively youthful woman with outstandingly gorgeous features. She was young and her expression appeared to be a bit sad but her small smile reached the brightness in her gold eyes. She had flowing midnight blue hair that reached shoulder length and was given a simple gown unlike those in the other portraits.

"She's beautiful… Who is she?"

Gladiolus and Prompto's expressions sobered at the question, stopping their conversation as an uncomfortable silence drifted into the room. Even though the two didn't face each other to speak, they both had the expression of slight sadness. Gladiolus spoke first, shifting on his feet in a way to shake off his brief paralysis. "That's the late Queen Caelum..."

Out of her better judgment on this sensitive subject, she had to know what had happened to the queen. "…How did she die?"

Prompto stopped chewing, his usual comical demeanor shielded by a certain coldness in his tone that didn't fail to subtly indicate any hidden meanings. "If you want to know, go ask Noct. It's a touchy subject. I've never met her and I see how she affected everyone when she was alive and passed away." He admitted he's never met her so perhaps he has known what it's like to lose a parent or he has heard of this queen's feats and how she was the lady to the people.

Light had been staring at the portrait to avoid their downcast gazes and to avoid the chill in the room. She nodded in comprehension. It was none of her business to know what happened or point on pressing the subject on his friends. Etro would want her to continue on other pressing duties than to grow an attachment to her allies and get distracted in the process. She still held empathy for the prince but she was fortunate as he still had his father and friends.

She had nobody. No family, no friends, nobody. Her sister, Serah was gone, and left Lightning all alone. She tore her eyes away from the portrait. There's no more reason to look further at it.

Prompto, relieved to change the pace and continue the tour, grinned. He had more food in his arms than he expected himself to be eating; mischievously brushed off the crumbs from his shirt before nonchalantly placing the bundle of food in Gladiolus' arms, the older man raising his eyebrow in confusion. Before he could speak however, Prompto seized Light's arm and bolted off with her.

"Son of a bitch!" Gladiolus cursed, dropping the bread loaves to the floor and giving chase.

Lightning growled, disliking the action of being pulled around as if she was a child, and jerked her arm away from Prompto, bringing the duo to a halt. "Can you act any more like a three year old?"

The fugitive shrugged off the comment, glancing down the hall to see that Gladiolus had not caught up with them "Great! We lost him! Okay, these are the bedrooms." He held his arms out to the long corridor with wooden doors lining the walls, each with a lustrous golden knob. "Me, Noct, Ignis, Gladiolus sleep in rooms next to each other, kind of like a small family. Guest rooms are on this floor too so take your pick."

The vessel sighed, choosing not to be aggravated further by Noctis' friend. She relented to his offer, deciding to choose a door at random. It was a clean room with modest furniture, and a wall displaying various types of firearms. Prompto laughed from behind her. "That's my room, but you sure picked the right one to kick it in." He added, ever so casually draping an arm over her shoulder. "I've always wanted a roommate, didn't think I'd get any takers so soon." Lightning quickly twisted his shoulder in a painful angle it wasn't supposed to go, Prompto laughing nervously in the mix of slight whimpers. "Okay, okay, just kidding, you're not my type!" She twisted harder. "SORRY!"

"I'll choose a room at another time, I don't exactly have any belongings." Light closed her eyes, exhaling an ornery sigh before releasing her victim, who fell to the floor, landing on his palms. She had a feeling that he wasn't going to cease being the way he is in his advances but he wasn't the absolute worst person she has ever met however irritating he proved to be. She'd never tell him that for a long time at least. "Let's just move on..."

The duo went back to the grand hall, descending down several levels of stares in almost silence in spite of Prompto's persistence in trying to start a conversation between the with idle quips. The vessel just crossed her arms and blocked out his words, just so it wouldn't tempt her to give in to him to silence him or punch him. They stopped before a pair of large doors that were shut tight from the inside, barely audible voices coming from behind them. A pair of heavy footsteps soon entered the area, piercing the silence as Prompto was about to explain further on the tour, Gladiolus returning.

Prompto clucked his tongue at him. "Why, Gladiolus, whatever took you so long? We were waiting, soldier!"

"I'm gonna kick your ass…" The soldier bolted, jumping slightly off the ground to drop kick his friend. He missed the blow by a hair, the fugitive diving to the floor and Gladiolus landing on his feet with a heavy thud.

"Whoa! Didn't think you could do that, bro! That's like 'tree flying out of the ground' kind of surprising!" The blond exclaimed, feign panting in shock of the sudden attack. He gasped, quickly ducking a hook aimed for his cheek. "Now, now, Gladiolus, let's be rational gentleman and talk this out rather than upset the old timers on the other side of this door!"

Gladiolus huffed, pulling his composure back together, something he rarely had to do except when it came to Prompto and his flamboyance. "So... The throne room... This is the throne room..." He explained to Light, taking over from Prompto before he could talk. The blonde stuck his middle finger up in return, but Gladiolus chose not to pay him anymore attention before he sent him flying. "This is where Noctis, Ignis and Uncle Roman went to have their meeting. They can hardly hear anything from outside of it unless it was an explosion but I'd still be doubtful." Gladiolus joked, using his nickname for Noctis' father as he and Prompto came into the habit of doing once they started to refer to his son as their 'brother'.

"Yup, these doors are so hard that it makes you wonder how they hear the dinner bell." Prompto commented, lightly banging on the doors with the back of his knuckles drawing a metallic clang. While they could hear it audibly outside, there was much doubt as to whether it even registered for those on the other side.

"Are the King, prince and that adviser the only ones present in there?" Lightning quipped. They emphasized her arrival as something monumental that the nation has yearned for but a meeting held between three members of a whole society seemed a bit odd. Perhaps they were being intentionally secretive...

Gladiolus shrugged, having never been in the throne room much except when it was vacant with the exception of himself and his 'brothers'. "Maybe, I'm not that 'privileged' to be invited to those big club meetings like my father is. I'd guess the nobles would be present or maybe the generals. Never can tell here..."

Prompto moved beside Gladiolus, patting him roughly on the back, drawing an irate grunt. "That'd make two of us, brother, I'm still getting lost at this place but thankfully, pretty Luna always knowing how to get me where I have to go and being always so helpful..." The fugitive sighed, dreamily thinking back to the kitchen maid that crushed on him like a young school girl. Gladiolus pushed him off, fearing what else would come out of his mouth on who he deemed a 'poor girl' that knew nothing of his friend's habit of playing women in the past. "Come on, lighten up, Gladiolus!"

"Let's... Just move on, we aren't in a classroom..." The vessel quickly interrupted, sensing an argument brewing. She was here to guide and protect and these two were to be showing her around the castle, she wasn't supposed to play parent between the two and hearing them bicker wasn't part of her agenda.

"You heard the lady, let's get going!" The soldier briskly stepped ahead of the others, waving for them to follow him. "We still got the library to show her, she might find her picture in a book or something."

Lightning's curiosity peaked at the mention of a library. She could brush up more on Maiestas's history and background; it'd settle her desire to discover if this land was in any way connected to the lands she knew of prior to becoming a crystal in Valhalla. "I want to go there."

"Ugh! We have to go there? Can't we go somewhere else like the gardens? We can sit and drink something and get someone else to bring the library to Lightning!" The fugitive complained, following the others with his arms placed behind his head lazily. He was never much one for books or reading, it took too long and a lot of the time was boring in his opinion. Were it up to Prompto, he'd have sent purchased his own personal reader but despite years of requesting so, no one took up on his offer.

Lightning and Gladiolus ignored his whining, stepping down another long hallway before they entered a brightly lit room, quite suitable for a place to read books and remarkably silent. The smell of musty and brand new books struck Lightning's nostrils when she inhaled. It was vacant minus the mousy librarians organizing and dusting off large shelves lined with volumes upon volumes of books. They saw that out of the visitors, one wasn't a usual guest and immediately halted their actions to gawk her at her.

Prompto leaned over to his side, lips inches from Light's ear and his hand blocking the librarians' view. "I think they want you to introduce yourself..." He whispered but still audible enough for others to hear. The librarians were a quiet bunch within Castle Caelum, known for the little words they uttered but they were hardly unapproachable in their ability to locate the exact piece of literature that a visitor may require in spite of the eerie feeling they often exuded from their silence.

"Don't listen to that idiot, Lightning. They're like this with everyone they haven't seen before." Gladiolus assured. He often spent much of his studies in the past in this library, brushing up on any topic that pertained to the topic he was stuck with. The librarians kept a constant vigil on him, in case he required assistance and more than once did he end up turning to them. The soldier smiled at the elderly women. "Just passing through here on a tour, ladies. Got a guest on extended stay here and she's kinda bit of a craver of knowledge." He jested, thinking back on the vessel's insistence that she was brought here. The women moved to surround Lightning, two taking her arms and gesturing her to follow along, as if they had read her mind to what she was looking for. "Hold it, hold it, we were on a tour and were just stopping by!"

Lightning gestured for them to stop, looking to the older man. "I want to spend some time here, there's a lot I need to catch up on about your home..." The vessel grasped his much larger hand and shook it with surprising strength. "Thank you for your time, Gladiolus. I appreciate it." She glanced behind Gladiolus to Prompto, who leaned inattentively against the door frame to the library, one leg propped up against it like his back. The fugitive perked up at her attention to him, sheepishly smiling at her. "Prompto." Was all she regarded him with, his expression dropping in disappointment that she didn't say more.

Gladiolus let go of her hand, acknowledging her request with a nod of comprehension. "If you insist, princess. Have fun shoving your head into books." He went astern, grabbing Prompto by the collar to follow him out of the library, not willing to take any chances that he may stay behind to attempt any sort of misbehavior. "Come on, 'bro', let's go talk about all that bread you wasted..."

"Hey, hey, I was eating mine, I have no clue what the hell you did with the re—!"

That was the last Lightning heard of the two before the burgundy doors shut quietly behind them. The vessel surveyed her surroundings, large bookshelves towering over her like mountains made the task of starting on her quest for information seem ever more daunting and prolonged. Lightning sighed deeply. "Guess if I'm going to be here for a while..." She looked to the elderly women, standing in stalwart patience for her command to assist. "Might as well start now."

* * *

Noctis and Ignis descended down one of the many long and narrow hallways, having just exited the conference that Roman summoned them to be a part of. The meeting turned out to be far longer than anticipated, totaling six hours of back and forth dialogue between Roman, Noctis, Ignis, General Protestas of the 'Exercitus Ad Hoc Imperator' and several miscellaneous noblemen that Roman had deemed privileged enough to hear the news of Etro's arrival. The prince and adviser were exhausted and would normally have headed off to bed but the King was sure to have left his son one final task to perform.

"She likely won't be thrilled of the news..."

"I'm not thrilled with the news either but she'll just have to deal with it, won't she?"

The pair had run across Gladiolus and Prompto en route to find Lightning; the two were bickering and tangled in limbs, looking like they were wrestling over something but neither Ignis or Noctis was surprised by the action as it happened so frequently that it was the equivalent to watching the cooks prepare meals. Gladiolus, in the midst of the struggle, had pointed them in the direction of the library where they had last left the vessel during their "tour" that they had provided her with.

Ignis slowly opened the doors to the sector of the castle, Noctis stepping in ahead of the adviser. Almost instantly, the librarians bowed before their esteemed prince. He raised his hand in dismissal for them to cease their appraisal, never being one to bask in the lime light servants within the castle showered him in. Noctis' explored, spotting a stacks of books bunched up in a corner of the library, caught in the middle of a ray of moonlight that showed down from a window above the bookshelves. There he spotted Lightning sitting crisscrossed, a thick book placed on her lap with one side hanging over past her thigh. "Lightning."

The vessel arc her head to the prince, offering him a dip of her head in acknowledgment. "Prince. You've returned from your meeting... You were gone for some time." She recalled, burying her eyes back into the large book beneath her, rubbing her neck from the strain of reading that way.

Noctis propped one arm on his hip, watching Lightning go back to reading whatever book had captivated her attention. A part of him found this quality likable, it wasn't often that he met a woman that was so diligent in her reading and spent hours in a library as Gladiolus and Prompto implied. It reminded him of himself back in the times of his long studies. "I have news for you from my father, please look at me."

Lightning did as she was requested, setting the large book around and standing up straight to face him. "What does he want me to know? Does it involve the war?"

"There is no war yet and no." Noctis retorted, shaking his head to her question. He watched her raise a pink brow to him, continuing onward to get to the part that Ignis suspected she'd be displeased by. Better deal with the complaints now than later, he figured. "He's throwing a ball in your honor tonight."

As expected, Lightning's expression quickly distorted into one mix of rage and embarrassment. "Are you kidding me? I wasn't sent here for parties and sitting on a platinum pedestal, I am not even worthy of the praise! I'm not the goddess!" She snapped, finding it redundant that they'd waste time on festivities rather than jumping to the matter at hand. The whole reason Etro had extended Her graces upon their kingdom.

"That is coming up as well, very soon..." The prince continued, his tone cryptic as to what he was referring to. Lightning had no idea where to start in attempting to read him, he was sure to hide his emotions very well around her. He turned away to further block her any means of seeing past his barriers. "Just be ready, the maids will be awaiting you and your attendance is mandatory. Show up..." With that Noctis turned on his heel and started towards the entrance where Ignis was waiting for him, the adviser having observed the whole affair, smirking in satisfaction at his prediction on Light's reaction.

A party? She came here to fight a war in the name of the goddess Etro and this is what she was resigned to?

Her stay in this kingdom was going to feel much longer than she hoped it'd be.


End file.
